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Abstract

Gratitude is conceptualized as a moral affect that is analogous to other moral emotions such as empathy and guilt. Gratitude has 3 functions that can be conceptualized as morally relevant: (a) a moral barometer function (i.e., it is a response to the perception that one has been the beneficiary of another person's moral actions); (b) a moral motive function (i.e., it motivates the grateful person to behave prosocially toward the benefactor and other people); and (c) a moral reinforcer function (i.e., when expressed, it encourages benefactors to behave morally in the future). The personality and social factors that are associated with gratitude are also consistent with a conceptualization of gratitude as an affect that is relevant to people's cognitions and behaviors in the moral domain.
... Theories on the structure and nature of thanks offer frameworks for studying behavior on these systems. Expressions of thanks are a signal of informal exchange between two parties that acknowledges a kind of social indebtedness distinct from formal trade or contracts (Smith 1759;Simmel 1950;McCullough et al. 2001). These messages signal that two parties "have now completed a (usually pleasing) reciprocal exchange, and the door is opened to the possibility of new and mutually pleasing exchanges in the future" (McAdams and Bauer 2004). ...
... The two-person structure of thanks has been observed in peer resource exchange systems, where users who are unable to generalize their sense of obligation to a wider community share tokens of appreciation with the specific parties who helped them to "lessen uneasy feelings of indebtedness" (Lampinen et al. 2013). Thanks is also usually attached to a single exchange between the parties, in contrast with gratitude, which is more often associated with overall life narratives, or attached to deities rather than people or institutions (McCullough et al. 2001). ...
... Our term "appreciation system" is chosen to reflect these inclusion criteria and connect these systems to scholarship on the exchange of thanks. We also considered the term "gratitude systems," but this term is inconsistent with theory -gratitude is an affect rarely attached to a specific exchange (McCullough et al. 2001). Other terms like "thanks systems" and "peer incentive systems" over-emphasize the peer aspect of these systems or over-emphasizes a single theory of motivation. ...
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Appreciation systems--platforms for users to exchange thanks and praise--are becoming common in the workplace, where employees share appreciation, managers are notified, and aggregate scores are sometimes made visible. Who do people thank on these systems, and what do they expect from each other and their managers? After introducing the design affordances of 13 appreciation systems, we discuss a system we call Gratia, in use at a large multinational company for over four years. Using logs of 422,000 appreciation messages and user surveys, we explore the social dynamics of use and ask if use of the system addresses the recognition problem. We find that while thanks is mostly exchanged among employees at the same level and different parts of the company, addressing the recognition problem, managers do not always act on that recognition in ways that employees expect.
... H1: Personality traits (e.g., extraversion and empathy) significantly influence gratitude levels, with more extraverted individuals being more likely to experience gratitude (McCullough et al., 2001). ...
... Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6): Used to assess participants' levels of gratitude, this scale has been widely used in gratitude research and has demonstrated strong reliability and validity (McCullough et al., 2001). ...
... Extraverted individuals are more likely to engage with others and express and experience positive emotions, while empathetic individuals are more inclined to appreciate others' acts of kindness, resulting in higher gratitude (Wood et al., 2009). Therefore, individuals with higher levels of extraversion and empathy are expected to show greater gratitude (McCullough et al., 2001). ...
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This study explores the multifaceted factors influencing gratitude and investigates the effectiveness of gratitude interventions and mindfulness practices in enhancing gratitude levels. Based on existing research, personality traits (e.g., extraversion and empathy), social support, and cultural background are hypothesized to significantly impact the experience and expression of gratitude. A four-week experimental design involving gratitude journaling and mindfulness training is proposed to examine the potential for these practices to elevate individual gratitude levels. The study further aims to highlight the role of emotional regulation in moderating the relationship between gratitude and well-being. The findings are expected to contribute to the theoretical understanding of gratitude and provide practical guidance for implementing gratitude-based interventions in various settings, such as education, clinical therapy, and organizational management.
... Works by Kashdan et al. (2006), Park et al. (2004), Emmons and Crumpler (2000), McCullough et al. (2001), and Wood (2007) exemplify this focus. These studies have laid the groundwork by defining gratitude, exploring its theoretical underpinnings, and establishing methods for its measurement. ...
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This study endeavors to investigate the predictive role of religiosity and social support in fostering gratitude. It further aims to elucidate the intricate relationships between gratitude, religiosity, and social support. Additionally, the study seeks to identify potential age-related differences in gratitude between adolescents and adults. The study employed a convenience sample of 175 participants from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, specifically Riyadh. The sample comprised two age groups: adolescents (n = 95) and adults (n = 80). The adolescent group consisted of high school students (boys and girls) with an average age of 15.8 years (SD = 0.54). The adult group included teachers from the same schools with an average age of 29 years (SD = 5). participated in this study. Data collection employed validated instruments: the Arabic Multidimensional Social Support Scale (MDSSS) by Dion & Dunn et al. (1987) adapted by Aserssa & Abdel-Maksoud (2001), the Arabic Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) by McCullough & Emmons (2002) further refined by Southpaw et al. (2005), and a researcher-developed measure of religiosity. Analysis revealed significant positive relationships between religiosity and social support, with adults exhibiting higher gratitude than adolescents. Importantly, all three variables (religiosity, social support, and peer support) emerged as significant predictors of gratitude.
... The importance of gratitude to human happiness is empirically undeniable (cf. Portocarrero et al. 2020 for a recent meta-analysis), and it is increasingly recognized as an important religious (Watkins et al. 2003;Exline and Wilt 2023) and moral quality (McCullough et al. 2001). Its importance to epistemology has been less wellappreciated. 1 In this essay, I will describe three different interactions between gratitude and the epistemic realm. ...
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Epistemic trust in others frequently cannot be disentangled from interpersonal trust more generally, but the epistemic implications of how we affectively express our trust in others are under-investigated. This essay claims that gratitude, despite its empirically undeniable importance to human flourishing generally, is also important epistemically and in several intersecting ways. To be grateful to a person is to represent the world differently in key respects. Gratitude, even if it is for past non-epistemic benefits, should play an important role in shaping who we epistemically rely on. Gratitude for specifically epistemic benefits is an important way in which we show our attunement to epistemic value and contribute to the incentive structures that make much of our public knowledge and informational ecosystems possible. Likewise, ingratitude is a crippling epistemic vice that renders our dependence on quality sources of information fragile and vulnerable to capture by misinformation.
... Di mana perasaan ini lebih dari hanya penghargaan antarpribadi dengan bantuan orang lain (Weiner et al., 1979). Pendapat lain menyatakan bahwa emosional yang disebabkan oleh perilaku moral (McCullough et al., 2001). Berdasarkan pendapat diatas, kebersyukuran sebagai perasaan kagum dan apresiasi akan nikmat yang sudah didapat dari Sang Pencipta pada hambaNya, syukur terhadap orang lain, dan juga pada alam. ...
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20 male college students were divided into 2 groups. One group received reinforcement when they helped a female confederate following a request for aid, the other group did not. The helping gesture involved having S volunteer to take an electrical shock which he believed would otherwise go to the confederate. The reinforcement was a "thank you" from the confederate. Ss who received the reinforcement continued to volunteer for shock, while those who did not discontinued volunteering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)