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The Emotions Sumanai, Gratitude, and Indebtedness, and Their Relations to Interpersonal Orientation and Psychological Well-Being Among Japanese University Students

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Naoko Washizu at Ochanomizu University
Naoko Washizu
Takashi Naito at Ochanomizu University
Takashi Naito
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Abstract

Sumanai is a Japanese word that refers to a feeling in response to a favor; it includes gratitude, along with sorrow and sometimes guilt for having put the benefactor to so much trouble. The purpose of the current research was to explore sumanai, gratitude, and indebtedness, and their relations to interpersonal orientation and psychological well-being. Results from Study 1 with 115 female Japanese university students confirmed the distinct meanings of gratitude, sumanai, and indebtedness in terms of their dissimilar correlations with other feelings. The results also revealed that when the benefactor’s expectation for repayment was manipulated, gratitude and sumanai, but not indebtedness, decreased with increasing benefactor expectations. In Study 2 with a sample of 179 female Japanese university students, sumanai had a significant positive correlation with interpersonal orientation but did not have a significant positive correlation with psychological well-being. Interpersonal orientation mediated the relation between indebtedness and psychological well-being, but did not mediate the relation between gratitude and psychological well-being. Gratitude had significant direct paths to psychological well-being and interpersonal orientation. An alternative model was also supported; gratitude mediated the relation between interpersonal orientation and psychological well-being. The contribution of gratitude to well-being and interpersonal orientation are consistent with the extant literature, pointing to gratitude’s ability to build and maintain social relationships.
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The Emotions Sumanai, Gratitude, and Indebtedness, and Their
Relations to Interpersonal Orientation and Psychological Well-Being
Among Japanese University Students
Naoko Washizu and Takashi Naito
Ochanomizu University
Sumanai is a Japanese word that refers to a feeling in response to a favor; it includes
gratitude, along with sorrow and sometimes guilt for having put the benefactor to so
much trouble. The purpose of the current research was to explore sumanai, gratitude,
and indebtedness, and their relations to interpersonal orientation and psychological
well-being. Results from Study 1 with 115 female Japanese university students con-
firmed the distinct meanings of gratitude, sumanai, and indebtedness in terms of their
dissimilar correlations with other feelings. The results also revealed that when the
benefactor’s expectation for repayment was manipulated, gratitude and sumanai, but
not indebtedness, decreased with increasing benefactor expectations. In Study 2 with a
sample of 179 female Japanese university students, sumanai had a significant positive
correlation with interpersonal orientation but did not have a significant positive corre-
lation with psychological well-being. Interpersonal orientation mediated the relation
between indebtedness and psychological well-being, but did not mediate the relation
between gratitude and psychological well-being. Gratitude had significant direct paths
to psychological well-being and interpersonal orientation. An alternative model was
also supported; gratitude mediated the relation between interpersonal orientation and
psychological well-being. The contribution of gratitude to well-being and interpersonal
orientation are consistent with the extant literature, pointing to gratitude’s ability to
build and maintain social relationships.
Keywords: gratitude, indebtedness, moral emotion, interpersonal orientation, psychological
well-being
When receiving favors from others, people
may feel a variety of feelings such as happiness,
gratitude, and indebtedness. The current article
focuses on the interrelations among those emo-
tions, and a similar emotion sumanai, that may
be uniquely Japanese. In addition, we explored
the relations of those emotions with other vari-
ables, such as interpersonal orientation and psy-
chological well-being.
Here, we define the feelings of gratitude,
indebtedness, and the Japanese word sumanai.
We refer to gratitude as “a positive emotional
reaction to the receipt of a benefit that is per-
ceived to have resulted from the good intentions
of another” (Tsang, 2006a, p. 139). Indebted-
ness is “a state of obligation to repay another”
(Greenberg & Westcott, 1983, p. 85). Sumanai
is a Japanese word that is used for apology and
expressing thanks to others. Because of the
complex nature of the word, it is difficult to
clearly define the word, even in Japanese. We
tentatively define sumanai as a feeling of grat-
itude for someone’s help along with sorrow and,
sometimes guilt for having put them to so much
trouble.
The general purpose of the current article was
to examine the functions of the feelings of grat-
itude, indebtedness, and sumanai in Japanese
settings, where these three feelings are valued
and considered as moral emotions. The current
research is exploratory and aimed at examining
how the three feelings relate to psychological
well-being and interpersonal orientation. Inter-
personal orientation is defined as the “degree to
This article was published Online First May 4, 2015.
Naoko Washizu and Takashi Naito, Graduate School of
Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Takashi Naito, Graduate School of Humanities
and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, 2-1–1, Otsuka, Bun-
kyoku, Tokyo, Japan. E-mail: naito.takashi@ocha.ac.jp
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation © 2015 American Psychological Association
2015, Vol. 4, No. 3, 209–222 2157-3883/15/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ipp0000037
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