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Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life
Abstract
The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.
... Working to improve gratitude is a practice that many people worldwide have found to be meaningful and important. Empirical evidence suggests that increasing gratitude enhances subjective well-being (Azad Marzabadi et al., 2021;Dickens, 2017;Emmons & McCullough, 2003;Portocarrero et al., 2020). However, these findings have faced valid criticism regarding effect sizes, comparison groups, and clinical usefulness (Cregg & Cheavens, 2021). ...
... The practice of gratitude (defined as positively recognizing the external contribution of others in the positive, fortunate and/or good experiences in one's own life; Cregg & Cheavens, 2021;Davis et al., 2016;Emmons & McCullough, 2003) gains weight and importance by its contribution to subjective well-being. Numerous studies, including a systematic review and meta-analysis, have supported the association between gratitude and various aspects of well-being (Portocarrero et al., 2020;Wood et al., 2010). ...
... The empirical testing of gratitude practices to enhance well-being originated from Emmons and McCullough's (2003) findings, showing that gratitude journaling improved well-being in student populations (d = 0.24−0.56) and in individuals with congenital and neuro-muscular diseases (d = 0.51−0.56). ...
Gratitude practices have been shown to increase subjective well-being and other positive outcomes; however, research on gratitude training has focused primarily on the practice of journaling. Further research examining alternative gratitude practices may yield valuable insights on the comparative efficacy of various gratitude interventions, and could suggest additional gratitude practices that warrant further study. This study examined the efficacy of the My Best Self 101 (MBS101) gratitude module: an online training resource that provides psychoeducation about gratitude along with a menu of empirically-based gratitude practices anchored in the research literature. Using mixed effects models of repeated measures, we examined gratitude and subjective well-being outcomes for participants assigned to either the MBS101 gratitude module or a traditional gratitude journaling practice. Participants were 290 adults recruited online from the general population and from a university student research pool. Mixed effects models of repeated measures were also used to analyze the interaction between time spent on gratitude practice, group assignment, and timepoint (post-test). Although both groups showed significant improvements, compared to the gratitude journaling group, the MBS101 group had significantly better outcomes on gratitude and subjective well-being. Additionally, when the time, group, and timepoint interaction was added, the MBS101 group had limited benefits for gratitude and mixed benefits for subjective well-being with increased time spent. These findings support the possibility that using a flexible, menu-based approach to gratitude training may yield improved outcomes and increase the likelihood of ongoing engagement with gratitude practices.
... In response to ongoing discussions about the validity of measurement tools in psychological science (Flake et al. 2017;Hussey and Hughes 2020) and the benefits of concise questionnaires (Fuchs and Diamantopoulos 2009), this study employs the automated item selection algorithm, which uses a genetic algorithm for data analysis. The increasing application of algorithms in psychological assessment is transforming item selection and questionnaire development, offering more objective and efficient solutions than traditional methods Kerber et al. 2022;Pundt et al. 2022). ...
... Higher levels of PsyCap are hypothesized to be associated with increased life satisfaction through mechanisms like enhanced self-esteem and optimism (Newman et al. 2014;Lucas et al. 1996;Bockorny and Youssef-Morgan 2019;Datu and Valdez 2019;Dirzyte et al. 2021;Lorenz et al. 2016Lorenz et al. , 2022. Similarly, higher PsyCap levels are expected to correlate with increased gratitude, reflecting Psy-Cap's role in promoting a positive outlook and resilience against negative perspectives (Luthans et al. 2006;Lorenz et al. 2016;McCullough et al. 2002;Emmons and McCullough 2003;Rash et al. 2011). ...
... This finding aligns with previous research indicating that PsyCap may enhance positive life evaluations through mechanisms such as increased self-esteem and optimism (Newman et al. 2014;Lucas et al. 1996;Bockorny and Youssef-Morgan 2019). Similarly, the positive correlation with gratitude supports the idea that PsyCap fosters a positive outlook and resilience against negative perspectives (Luthans et al. 2006;Lorenz et al. 2016;McCullough et al. 2002;Emmons and McCullough 2003). ...
This article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO)” explores the construct of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) within the framework of Positive Organizational Behavior, focusing on its components—hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism—and their impact on personal and organizational outcomes. Utilizing machine learning meta-heuristic techniques, the study developed the Psychological Capital Inventory (PSI-16) to address limitations in existing measures. Two samples (N = 297 and N = 272) were analyzed to construct and validate the PSI-16 and its nomological network, encompassing constructs like life satisfaction, gratitude, well-being, self-esteem, and perceived social support. Results indicated strong psychometric properties for PSI-16, with statistically significant positive correlations between PsyCap and life satisfaction, well-being, and adaptive personality traits, and negative correlations with psychological distress and perceived stress. The PSI-16 offers a robust tool for assessing PsyCap, enhancing theoretical understanding and practical applications in organizational and psychological contexts. Future research should further validate the PSI-16 across diverse cultures and settings.
... Research highlights the importance of factors like gratitude, perceived social support, and prosocial tendencies in promoting wellbeing, but their combined effects remain underexplored (Emmons and McCullough, 2003;Zimet et al., 1988). Gratitude is widely associated with improved emotional regulation and social relationships, while perceived social support is a known buffer against stress and a predictor of resilience (Cohen and Wills, 1985;Froh et al., 2009). ...
... Gratitude, a core concept in positive psychology, refers to the recognition and appreciation of the positive aspects of life and the contributions of others (Emmons and McCullough, 2003;Gulliford and Morgan, 2017). It can be experienced both as a dispositional trait and a momentary emotional state, each of which enhances well-being by fostering positive affect and strengthening social connections (Emmons and Shelton, 2001). ...
... Gratitude encourages positive cognitive reappraisal, reinterpreting negative events by focusing on benefits or lessons learned, enhancing emotional regulation and stress management (Fredrickson, 2004;Deichert et al., 2021). It also fosters prosocial behavior by increasing empathy and a sense of obligation towards others, strengthening social bonds (Emmons and McCullough, 2003;Kardas et al., 2019). This creates a reinforcing cycle of well-being (Fredrickson, 2004). ...
Introduction
This study explores the relationships among gratitude, perceived social support, prosocial tendencies, and psychological well-being (PWB) in Chinese university students. Despite growing interest in these constructs, the mechanisms through which gratitude and social support influence PWB remain underexplored, particularly in collectivist cultural contexts where social harmony and interdependence are prioritized.
Methods
Data were collected from 703 Chinese university students using validated instruments measuring gratitude, perceived social support, prosocial tendencies, and psychological well-being. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the direct and indirect effects of gratitude and social support on PWB, with prosocial tendencies modeled as a mediating higher-order factor. Multi-group SEM analysis was conducted to examine gender invariance.
Results
Gratitude and perceived social support significantly predicted PWB, both directly and indirectly through prosocial tendencies. Gratitude had a strong positive effect on prosocial tendencies (β = 0.412, p < 0.001), which, in turn, significantly contributed to PWB (β = 0.465, p < 0.001). Similarly, perceived social support positively influenced prosocial tendencies (β = 0.375, p < 0.001) and PWB (β = 0.253, p < 0.05). Mediation analysis confirmed that prosocial tendencies partially mediated these relationships. Multi-group SEM analysis revealed structural invariance across gender.
Discussion
The findings underscore the cultural relevance of gratitude and social support within Chinese society, emphasizing the role of collectivist values in fostering PWB. Practical implications include implementing gratitude-focused interventions and enhancing peer support systems within university mental health programs to promote resilience and well-being among students.
... Gratitude is broadly defined as a state in which a positive outcome has been attained from an external source (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Feelings of gratitude generally have several beneficial relational and well-being effects both at the individual and organizational levels. ...
... In contrast, people with performance goals are more focused on seeking favorable judgments (Dweck, 1986;VandeWalle, 1997). Here, we propose that learning goal orientation should Beyond correlations between gratitude and life satisfaction (Emmons & McCullough, 2003) and prosociality (Ma et al., 2017), gratitude has an established causal effect on well-being (Kaplan et al., 2014;Lambert et al., 2012). Some research has investigated the potential downsides of gratitude, such as dependency when reciprocity is unbalanced and fears of social sanctions or disapproval (Komter, 2004). ...
... In fact, affiliation and communal motives lie at the core of learning goal orientation (Chiaburu et al., 2007). Similarly, gratitude is associated with a connection to others (Emmons & McCullough, 2003) and has been linked to prosociality (Froh et al., 2008(Froh et al., , 2009Naito et al., 2005;Tsang, 2006). Gratitude increases prosocial behavior (e.g., Froh et al., 2008;Tsang, 2006), prosocial behavior is linked to anticipated gratitude (Grant & Wrzesniewski, 2010), and the link between gratitude and prosocial behavior has been explained to be due to a communal perspective-social worth, that is feeling valued by others (Grant & Gino, 2010). ...
Although research has shown that gratitude has mostly beneficial consequences, less is known about its motivational antecedents. As goal orientations influence goals and behaviors, we considered how they also impact emotions. To that aim, we investigated the relation between work domain goal orientation and the experience of gratitude. Study 1 (N = 102) demonstrated that a learning goal orientation was positively correlated with gratitude but a performance goal orientation was not. Study 2 (N = 87) experimentally demonstrated that participants experienced more gratitude when learning goals rather than performance goals were valued at work. In Study 3 (N = 157), work prosocial motivation cross-sectionally mediated the impact of a learning goal orientation on gratitude. Preregistered Study 4 (N = 257) replicated Study 2 and 3’s findings through an experiment and categorical mediation. Our results suggest that goal orientation influences gratitude, and that prosocial motivation can serve an explanatory function for its relationship with gratitude at work.
... While bringing a more positive outlook upon the world, gratitude creates an increased self-esteem by developing emotional balance. Over and above momentary gladness, these benefits endow humans with the emotional tools to master chronic stress (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Gratitude is, hence, one easily applied, yet effective, practice to promote well-being at an individual and collective level. ...
... When people express gratitude toward others, whether in romantic partnerships, friendships, or family relationships, it signals appreciation and validation, which strengthens the relational bond (Algoe et al., 2008). Additionally, gratitude can promote prosocial behaviors, encouraging individuals to act kindly and considerately toward others, creating a positive feedback loop of mutual care and support (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). ...
... Gratitude inspires people to engage in joint activities, improving social well-being, which builds social trust and community resilience (Emmons & McCullough, 2003) Such communities are said to have a high social capital because people learn to help others and work cooperatively toward common goals owing to an attitude of gratitude (Huffman et al., 2014). This would mean increased citizen participation, volunteering, and a stronger collective responsibility. ...
This study examines the role of gratitude in enhancing mental health, interpersonal relationships, and social cohesion among university students in Punjab, Pakistan. Using a quantitative research design, data was collected through surveys from 300 students across seven top universities. The findings indicate that higher levels of gratitude are positively correlated with improved emotional well-being, reduced anxiety and depression, greater relationship satisfaction, trust, and stronger social cohesion within university communities. The study highlights the potential of gratitude-based interventions in promoting positive psychological and social outcomes, suggesting that gratitude can be a valuable tool for enhancing mental health, fostering relationship trust, and strengthening community bonds. Implications for future research and practical applications are discussed, emphasizing the need for further exploration of gratitude's impact across different cultural contexts.
... Despite these different operational definitions, gratitude writing exercises are a common tool used to promote gratitude, and in turn, cultivate a stronger sense of personal wellbeing (Emmons & McCullough, 2003;Lyubomirsky et al., 2011). Indeed, there is a robust body of experimental studies showing that expressing gratitude in written form contributes to well-being (Davis et al., 2016;Diniz et al., 2023;Jans-Beken et al., 2019;Wood et al., 2010). ...
... Although most of the early research on gratitude interventions was focused on adults (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), there has been increasing attention towards how these interventions can be applied within the context of schools to promote students' psychological and academic outcomes (Froh et al., 2009(Froh et al., , 2014. For example, research involving middle-school students has found an association between counting one's blessings (i.e., writing about five things that one is thankful for) and improvements in well-being such as increased satisfaction with their school experience (Froh et al., 2008). ...
Gratitude writing exercises are a common tool used to promote gratitude. However, understanding of the specific writing features that are associated with written expressions of gratitude is limited. In this study, we investigated how fundamental characteristics (words, punctuation marks) of early elementary student’s writing relate to their gratitude. Specifically, we reexamined a subset of data from Nguyen and Gordon (J Happ Stud 25(34), 2024). The data included 4932 gratitude expressions composed by kindergarteners, first graders, second graders, and third graders (N = 2806) who had participated in an annual community writing activity that prompted them to write about what they were thankful for. During this activity teachers submitted students’ writing to local newspapers for publication and circulation online. We found that the number of gratitude categories expressed by students correlated with features of their writing, namely word count and punctuation marks. We also found that student grade level influenced the breadth of gratitude categories they wrote about. These findings have implications for education, providing a basis for developing innovative classroom gratitude writing activities that may foster students’ gratitude across a myriad of categories.
... Gratitude, often described as a complex psychological state, encompasses an emotional response to receiving benefits or positive outcomes from others, recognizing this as an act of kindness or favor (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002). Beyond mere thankfulness, gratitude manifests a deeper acknowledgment of interconnectedness and mutual support within social relationships (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). "We showed him the right path, but his decision is to be grateful or not". ...
... That has been explored by research that people experience happiness and less depressed when they practice gratitude (Seligman et al., 2005). Gratitude helps us appreciate our lives and find meaning in our experience (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). We start to see the world in a positive light when we focus on what we are grateful for. ...
Gratitude has been increasingly recognized as a most important component for psychological wellbeing. The current study investigates the association of Gratitude with Life Satisfaction which examines gratitude for prediction of satisfaction with life. Based on theories including Gratitude as a Moral Emotion theory, Gratitude as a virtue theory, self-determination theory of life satisfaction and satisfaction with life scale theory also predicted positive association between the two variables. A sample of 200 diabetic patients were taken, they completed a survey assessing gratitude, life satisfaction and demographic variables. The final results conclude that gratitude is strongly associated or linked with the life satisfaction. Results showed a notable positive association between Independent and Dependent variable. Moreover, regression analysis showed that increased gratitude causes increased life satisfaction. While the study has some limitations, future studies could delve deeper into the relationship of both variables across the diverse cultural settings or sample may not be the figurative of the broader population limiting the generalizability of findings.
... According to Diener and Seligman [1], appreciation contributes to subjective well-being by enhancing relationships and encouraging gratitude. Recent research has expanded on this, showing that gratitude practices can significantly improve mental health and interpersonal relationships [18]. ...
Maturology, an emerging interdisciplinary field, is underpinned by the seven elements of its symbol, an innovative metaphorical framework for describing human maturity. This symbol synthesizes multiple dimensions of human existence, growth, and development, offering a comprehensive perspective on the maturation process through interconnected components: the Talent Hand Sign, Cycle of Generation, Blue Star, Pentagon, Figures, Skye, and Path of Transcendence. The Talent Hand Sign is a symbolic representation of the twelve fundamentals of maturology. The Cycle of Generation underscores human development's progressive and generational nature, emphasizing the transmission of wisdom, values, and experiences across different life stages. The Blue Star serves as a guiding emblem of sagehood, symbolizing wisdom, enlightenment, and the pursuit of higher consciousness. The Pentagon represents stability, resilience, and the structural integrity necessary for holistic development. The Figures contextualize human maturation over time, categorized into lustrum, decade, score, and generation, reflecting the rhythmic nature of life's journey. The Skye, as a representation of boundlessness, encapsulates the limitless potential for self-improvement, transformation, and human aspiration. Lastly, the Path of Transcendence maps out the stages of personal evolution from life to legacy, highlighting the significance of self-actualization and societal impact. In conclusion, this metaphorical framework provides a holistic and integrative model for human maturity, encouraging individuals to pursue continuous growth, self-awareness, and meaningful contributions to society while fostering a deeper understanding of the dynamics of personal and collective development.
... Persepsi tentang apa dan berapa banyak yang telah individu lakukan untuk orang lain inilah yang dapat meningkatkan rasa syukurnya (Emmons & McNamara, 2006). Selain itu, menyadari kebaikan apa saja yang dimiliki oleh individu, yang mungkin tidak dimiliki oleh orang lain juga dapat meningkatkan rasa syukur (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Membantu orang lain dan menyadari kebaikan dalam hidup yang mungkin tidak dimiliki oleh lain tersebut sangat mungkin dialami oleh relawan. ...
p>Kerelawanan tidak hanya berguna untuk penerima manfaat tapi juga untuk para relawan yang berperan. Dengan membantu orang lain, relawan dinilai dapat meningkatkan rasa syukur. Kemampuan untuk merasa bersyukur memiliki manfaat positif terhadap kondisi psikologis individu. Penelitian ini melibatkan 108 relawan di Indonesia untuk melihat hubungan antara fungsi motivasi menjadi relawan dan bersyukur. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kuantitatif dengan cara pengambilan data menggunakan kuesioner online . Selain melihat hubungan antara fungsi motivasi menjadi relawan dengan bersyukur, penelitian ini juga bertujuan untuk mencari tahu lebih bagaimana korelasi antara durasi menjadi relawan dan fungsi motivasi dengan bersyukur. Hasil menunjukan bahwa terdapat korelasi positif antara fungsi motivasi protective (r=0,309; p< 0,05) , value (r=0,248; p< 0,05) , dan social (r=0,202; p< 0,05) dengan bersyukur. Selain itu, tidak ada perbedaan tingkat motivasi relawan Indonesia dari segi jenis kelamin dan durasi menjadi relawan. Penelitian ini diharapkan dapat mendukung riset sebelumnya yang menunjukan bahwa kerelawanan dapat dijadikan alternatif aktivitas yang bermanfaat bagi kesehatan mental individu.
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... In addition, multicomponent programs have proved to be beneficial [78][79][80] for depression, anxiety, and stress. Thus, it is recommended that other positive psychology techniques be utilized in future blended group programs, for instance, strengths interviews, the three blessings exercise and practicing optimistic attribution [81][82][83] so as to focus on and stimulate positive emotions, which positive psychology feature was not integrated in our program. In that way, we may examine the potential impact of diverse factors and methods and understand their interconnectedness and contribution to the therapeutic result [75]. ...
Background/Objectives: The accelerating global concern for the mental health of university students necessitates delivering intervention programs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a 5-week blended counseling group program, with two integrated approaches, positive psychology intervention and cognitive therapy, toward undergraduate engineering students' depression, anxiety, and stress, from the Higher School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, Greece. Methods: Participants with a mean age of 21.12 (SD = 3.68) were administered the DASS-21. A two-way repeated-measures design was used and the two factors were condition and time. The subjects underwent two conditions, the experimental (n = 40), consisting of the civil and mechanical engineers, and the control (n = 52), that encompasses the electrical engineers. The three dependent variables, DASS-21 factors, were measured at three time points, at the beginning of the program, midway through the program, and at the end of the program. Results: The effect of the interaction between time and the conditions on DASS-21 depression and stress was significant. In particular, the experimental subgroups showed lower depression and stress at the end of the program in comparison with the control group. However, they did not demonstrate significantly lower scores on anxiety. Furthermore, the two intervention subgroups did not exhibit any significant mid-and post-test differences on all measures. Conclusions: In light of the obtained results, it can be concluded that the group counseling blended cognitive positive psychology program is an effective intervention.
... Then participants were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: gratitude, body-focused gratitude, or control. Participants in the gratitude intervention completed a gratitude list (Emmons & McCullough, 2003) and were asked to "think of three things that you are grateful for today and why" and participants were asked to list these three things and why. In the body-focused gratitude intervention, we adapted a body-focused gratitude intervention from Dunaev et al. (2018). ...
Gratitude is a positive emotion that increases well-being and body image. Across two studies, we explored the impact of general and body gratitude and the role of emotional regulation on well-being, health behavioural intentions, and body compassion. In Study 1 (N = 382), we used a cross-sectional design to assess associations between body and general gratitude and emotion regulation with well-being, health behavioural intentions, and body compassion. The results showed that emotion regulation was positively associated with both trait general and body gratitude, and in turn both trait general and body gratitude were linked to greater well-being, health behavioural intentions, and body compassion. Specifically, trait general gratitude better correlated with well-being, life satisfaction, and weight loss intentions, whereas, trait body gratitude had a stronger correlation with affect, exercise intentions, and body compassion. In Study 2 (N = 425), we experimentally induced general or body gratitude (vs. control) and tested the effect of emotion regulation on well-being outcomes. The results showed that body gratitude (vs. control) increased body compassion; whereas general gratitude (vs. control) increased well-being and weight loss intentions. Additionally, the results showed that greater emotion regulation was associated with higher gratitude and in turn greater well-being, intention to exercise, and body compassion in the general and body gratitude intervention (vs. control). These findings suggest that general and body gratitude relate to well-being and that emotion regulation plays a key role in the benefits of gratitude.
... With respect to factors that predict flourishing in adolescents, researchers have shown that gratitude offers marked advantages over materialism (Froh et al., 2011). It appears to be conducive to physical and mental well-being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003;Froh et al., 2007;Jans-Beken et al., 2020;Portocarrero et al., 2020), and to favourable sleep patterns (Wood et al., 2009). Researchers have also suspected indirect links between gratitude and longevity (Danner et al., 2001;Jans-Beken et al., 2020, p. 776). ...
There are various prima facie reasons for looking at the gratitude that citizens feel in response to government programs. Some relate to individual flourishing, others relate to moral virtue or social cohesion. We analyze survey data from 429 Australian participants (211 Indigenous and 218 non-Indigenous) in order to understand their levels of gratitude for the government support that is available to them. The data also allows us to consider their perceptions about the fairness, quality, and benevolence of government support. Such factors, according to our hypotheses, may be expected to moderate their levels of gratitude. In addition, the data enables us to see whether their levels of gratitude are associated with their levels of national pride, and whether their levels of national pride predict their levels of satisfaction with life. We find that non-Indigenous Australians are slightly more likely than Indigenous Australians to think that Australian government support is fair; Indigenous Australians, however, who perceive it as fair are more likely to be grateful for it. The fairness-gratitude relationship did not for hold non-Indigenous participants. Nonetheless, we predict that if more Indigenous Australians were to perceive Australian government support as fair, gratitude for it amongst Indigenous Australians would increase.
JEL classification: I310
... Beberapa penelitian menunjukkan bahwa subjective well-being dipengaruhi faktor-faktor, seperti dukungan sosial teman sebaya (Sardi & Ayriza, 2020), iklim organisasi (Hartanto & Kurniawan, 2015), usia dan jenis kelamin (Hoorn, 2007), self-efficacy (Pramudita & Pratisti, 2015), spiritual qoutient (Yuliyanto & Indartono, 2019), kebersyukuran atau gratitude (Mahardhika & Halimah, 2017), konsep diri dan optimism (Sari & Maryatmi, 2019). (2004) Bersyukur memberi keuntungan secara emosi dan interpersonal karena syukur dapat memberikan ketenangan batin, hubungan interpersonal yang nyaman, menjadi lebih peduli, suka membantu individu lain, murah hati, serta berhubungan dengan emosi positif yaitu seperti kepuasan, kebanggaan, harapan, dan kebahagiaan (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). ...
Kindergarten teachers subjective well-being is considered essential for teaching and learning success. This study aims to determine the effect of gratitude on the subjective well-being of kindergarten teachers, which is moderated by age. The quantitative approach is used in this study, with the number of respondents 72 Aisyiyah Kindergarten teachers in Purwokerto. The instruments used are the subjective well-being scale modified from the SWLS and SPANE scales by Diener et al. (2009) with Cronbach’s ⍺ = 0,839 (15 items), the gratitude scale modified from the GRAT scale by Watkins, Woodward, Stone, and Kolts (2003) with Cronbach’s ⍺ = 0,901 (32 items), and also age demographic data. Multiple regression analysis is used to determine the effect of the variables and their moderating effect, assisted by the Jamovi 1.8.4 software. The results of the study show that there is a significant effect of gratitude on the subjective well-being of kindergarten teachers. Age is also statistically and significantly proven to moderate the relationship. Age differences give different results towards kindergarten teachers' subjective well-being. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the discussion. Subjective well-being pada guru taman kanak-kanak dianggap penting untuk keberhasilan dalam proses belajar mengajar. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh kebersyukuran terhadap subjective well-being pada guru TK yang dimoderatori oleh usia. Metode penelitian yang digunakan menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif, dengan jumlah responden 72 guru TK Aisyiyah di Purwokerto. Instrumen yangdigunakan adalah skala subjective well-being yang dimodifikasi dari skalaSWLS dan SPANE milik Diener et al (2009) dengan Cronbach ⍺ = 0,839 (15 aitem), skala kebersyukuran dimodifikasi dari skala GRAT milik Watkins, Woodward, Stone, dan Kolts (2003) dengan Cronbach ⍺ = 0,901 (32 aitem), serta data demografi usia. Teknik analisis data yang digunakan yaitu regresi berganda untuk mengetahui pengaruh variabel dan efek moderasinya, dibantu dengan software Jamovi 1.8.4. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa terdapat pengaruh signifikan kebersyukuran terhadap subjective well-being pada guru TK. Usia juga terbukti secara statistik dan signifikan dapat memoderasi hubungan tersebut. Adanya perbedaan usia, memberikan hasil yang berbedapula pengaruhnya terhadap subjective well-being guru. Implikasi teoritis dan praktis dari temuan ini dibahas dalam diskusi.
... But this concept failed to describe the sources of gratitude which people report. Emmons and McCullough's (2003) did a study on gratitude and participants were instructed to maintain a list of daily events, for which they were grateful, participants consider it a source of gratitude (Emmons & McCullogh, 2003). ...
The present study was conducted to investigate the role of gratitude and
forgiveness in the spiritual well-being of the lecturers in the region of
Multan, Pakistan. Convenient sampling was used and the sample of 100
teachers, (60 males and 40 females) was drawn from the faculty
members of Bahauddin Zakariya University in Pakistan. Gratitude
Questionnaire comprising of six items (GQ-6; McCullough, 2004),
Heartland Forgiveness scale (HFS; Thompson & Synder, 2003) and
scale of Spirituality Index of well-being (SWBS; Daaleman & Frey,
2004) were administered to measure the relationship among gratitude,
forgiveness and spiritual well-being. The findings indicated that
gratitude and forgiveness are positively correlated with the spiritual
well-being and the level of gratitude was greater in female lecturers.
Gratitude and forgiveness are strongly associated with spiritual well�being of teachers.
Keywords: forgiveness, gratitude, spiritual well-being, lecturers
... According to them, expression of gratitude leads to better connectedness, elevation and humility and also a negative state of indebtedness. Emmons and McCullough (2003) conducted a study where in Study 1 the participants were assigned to one of the three conditions, where they had to report their physical symptoms, overall life appraisals, coping and health behaviours and moods on a weekly basis. In Study 2, the participants were assigned to either one of the three conditions where they had to report their physical symptoms, overall life appraisals, coping and health behaviours and moods on a daily basis. ...
This article aims to study whether gratitude affects mental health and, if so, then provide plausible explanations for the same. The surge in interest in studying gratitude is due to the fact that positive psychology research studies have consistently proven that gratitude leads to a higher amount of life satisfaction, happiness and well-being across various strata of individuals all over the world. Though the contribution of gratitude towards well-being and mental health has been established but this also exerts the need to provide a global definition for gratitude. The article aims to: (a) give a scalable yet universally accepted definition of gratitude, (b) study the effect of gratitude on our mental health and (c) study the effect of gratitude interventions on mental health. Mental health, in this article, is indicated by the absence of symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as the presence of positive emotions. The majority of studies in this arena have focused on how gratitude positively affects our mental health, subjective and eudaimonic well-being, but there have also been a significant number of studies which show that gratitude interventions have not been as effective. Possible explanations of the association between gratitude and mental health have been discussed. The article is a narrative, non-systematic review and will be useful for those who are interested in translating the scientific study of gratitude into practice by assisting them to understand and enhance the effectiveness of gratitude interventions.
... Encouraged to orient to the future when reflecting on their Best Possible Self, this intervention may reduce internalized ageism and aging anxiety. A second promising intervention involves gratitude (Chopik et al., 2019;Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Utilizing a writing gratitude intervention, individuals who wrote about aspects of their life for which they felt grateful experienced reductions in negative affect in response to stressful life events (Fekete & Deichert, 2022). ...
Stereotypes about aging and aging anxieties are common and when internalized are related to poor physical and psychological outcomes. As a result, older adults may view themselves as having their best years behind them. The present study investigates ageism and aging anxiety as barriers to positive self-development. Participants ( n = 360) between ages of 19 and 77 years old ( M = 39, SD = 15.9) were recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and completed measures of Ageism, Aging Anxiety, and were asked to identify when they have been or will be their Best Self. With increasing age, adults with more internalized ageism and more aging anxiety, specifically physical appearance and fear of loss, identified their Best Self with a time in the past. These findings support the idea that internalization of ageism and aging anxiety can be counterproductive for expectations for growth as one ages.
... In contrast, gratitude fosters positive emotions by encouraging individuals to appreciate the good in their lives, even amidst challenges. Studies indicate that gratitude practices, such as keeping a gratitude journal or expressing thanks to others, Kashif, Badariah 4 lead to improved mood, reduced depression, and stronger interpersonal connections (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Furthermore, gratitude has been linked to physical health benefits, including better sleep quality, lower blood pressure, and improved immune function (Wood et al., 2010). ...
... Within the action booklet is a journaling page where the boys have space to continue their gratitude reflections each day, reflecting on a specific question each evening and writing their response accordingly. This form of positive journaling has also been associated with heightened levels of individuals' well-being especially in the area of positive affect and improved interpersonal relationships (Emmons & McCullough, 2003;Watkins et al., 2003). By having a daily journaling section in the action booklet this also helps with keeping the booklet on their bedside table, out in the open, so they have more chance to keep the re-integration phase in the forefront of their mind. ...
... Specifically, positive family functioning is able to help create an emotional climate in the family that can beneficially facilitate the cognitive process for building a healthy mental representation and internal model in family members conducive to their development of grateful thoughts and alleviation of the occurrence and harm of negative emotions [4], e.g., depression. In fact, people who are more grateful tend to be less depressed due to their higher life satisfaction, contentment, active coping, and resilience [39,42,43]. Evidently, Lam and Chen [14] found that gratitude was not only significantly and directly predictive of a lower level of depression among young adults but also mediated the relationship between constructive family interaction and the depressive outcome in these young adults. ...
Background: The current study is intended to examine how positive family functioning, collectively constructed by parents and children in the family context, may contribute to their gratitude and depression, two pivotal human emotions closely related to human health, in which the gratitude and depression of parents and children are assumed to affect each other bidirectionally and parental and children’s gratitude is expected to link the relations between positive family functioning and their depression. Methods: The data for analysis came from a community sample of 310 Chinese parent–child dyads, which were measured by the Family Functioning Style Scale (FFSS), Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ), and depression subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) from both the parent and child participants. Results: The results indicated that positive family functioning contributed to higher parental and children’s gratitude and their less depression, and parental and children’s gratitude and depression affected each other positively. Furthermore, serial mediation analyses discovered the complex processes from positive family functioning to the actor’s depression in parents or children through their gratitude or the links from the partner effect to the actor effect of parental and children’s gratitude or from the partner effect of parental or children’s gratitude to their partner effect of depression. Conclusions: Findings of the current study prove the collective effects of family functioning on the emotional development of gratitude and depression among parents and children, in which parental and children’s gratitude and depression bidirectionally impact each other and lead to the actor’s depression in them through the complex serial mediated effects. For this, pro-family and health-related policies and services should be provided to promote family functioning and emotional management in a home context to enhance family and emotional health among parents and children.
... According to Emmons and McCullough (2003), gratitude is an emotion or feeling that develops that shapes attitudes, habits, positive moral attitudes, and employee traits and has the ability to influence how a person responds or reacts to something. Gratitude encourages a person to act according to what they get . ...
This study aims to empirically examine the effect of gratitude on work engagement in employees of Pondok Pesantren Sunan Drajat Lamongan. This research method uses quantitative research. The research subjects were 177 employees of the boarding school Sunan Drajat Lamongan. Data collection techniques using the work engagement scale which is based on the dimensions of Schaufeli & Bakker. Data collection techniques are the most important step in research, because objective main from study is get data. Work engagement scale contains 19 items with coefficient reliability (α = 0.856), used for to reveal level work engagement related vigor (5 items), dedication (6 items), and absorption (8 items) that are owned respondent research. Gratitude scale adapted from Watkins and Fitzgerald's gratitude scale in Listiyandini, consists of over 30 items with coefficient reliability (α = 0.888) was used for to reveal like what is gratitude from Respondent study. Data analysis techniques in research this is simple linear regression with using a computer program. The computer program used for statistical data analysis with Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS) version 25.0. The work engagement scale consists of 19 items. Gratitude is measured using the components proposed by Fitzgerald and Watkins. The gratitude scale consists of 30 items. The data analysis technique uses simple regression analysis. The results showed that the Anova F test was 115.488 with a significant level of 0.001. This means that the value of 0.001 <0.05, it can be said that the hypothesis is accepted, namely that there is an influence of gratitude on work engagement. This study has an R value of 0.253 and an R Square of 0.399, which can be said that the gratitude variable has an influence of 39.9% on the work engagement variable.
Penelitian ini mengkaji kebersyukuran buruh sawit dengan pekerja lepas di kecamatan Perhentian Raja, Provinsi Riau, yang sering mengalami pendapatan di bawah Upah Minimum Regional (UMR). Meskipun menghadapi kesulitan ekonomi, buruh sawit yang mampu mengembangkan emosi positif menunjukkan sikap kebersyukuran. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif deskriptif fenomenologi dengan dua informan sebagai buruh sawit dengan pekerja lepas. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kedua informan menunjukkan emosi positif yang menghasilkan perasaan bersyukur. Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi kebersyukuran meliputi intensitas, frekuensi, rentang, dan kepadatan. Informan pertama menunjukkan kebersyukuran dengan selalu belajar untuk bersyukur, dapat berkumpul dengan keluarga, memberikan penghasilan kepada istri, dan memberikan bantuan kepada orang lain. Informan kedua menunjukkan kebersyukuran dengan menerima diri apa adanya, mengucapkan alhamdulillah secara rutin, menabung untuk memiliki sawit pribadi, dan memberikan serta menerima bantuan dari orang lain. Temuan penelitian ini memberikan pemahaman yang lebih dalam tentang pentingnya kebersyukuran bagi kesehatan mental buruh sawit dengan pekerja lepas.
Purpose
This study evaluates gratitude's role in developing nonviolent work behaviour. It also examines the mediating effect of constructive deviance in the relationship between gratitude and nonviolent work behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on responses from 424 working professionals engaged in different Indian industries: banks, insurance, IT, manufacturing, hotel and software. The respondents were approached both physically and electronically using convenience sampling. Also, the data were collected in three phases four months apart, utilizing the benefits of a repeated cross-sectional research design. Structural equation modelling examines the relationship between gratitude and nonviolent work behaviour. Model fit indices are also assessed for two models (without a mediator and with a mediator). Total, direct and indirect effects are calculated using AMOS 21 to study the mediating effect of constructive deviance.
Findings
Findings reveal that all three dimensions of gratitude (lack of sense of deprivation, simple appreciation and appreciation for others) are positively associated with nonviolent work behaviour. The results also confirm the mediating effect of constructive deviance.
Originality/value
This is one of the pioneer studies exploring gratitude's role in ensuring nonviolent work behaviour.
Awe is a mixed emotion that is considered important in the protection of well‐being during crisis, such as COVID‐19. However, there is limited understanding of the long‐term and dynamic effects of awe on well‐being and the pathways behind these effects. Drawing on the broaden‐and‐build theory of positive emotions and the theory of mood‐congruent bias, the present study utilized longitudinal and daily diary approaches to investigate the relationship between awe and well‐being, as well as the mediating role of attention bias. In longitudinal Study 1, 524 participants ( N female = 365, 69.7%), aged from 18 to 72, completed online surveys three times with 1‐month intervals. Cross‐lagged analyses demonstrated that awe exerted a significant predictive effect on individuals' well‐being. Moreover, positive attention bias served as a mediator in this relationship. In diary Study 2, 183 college students ( N female = 126, 68.85%) completed surveys for 14 consecutive days. The results of Hierarchical Linear Modeling and Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling showed that awe positively predicted individuals' well‐being, and positive attention bias mediated this relationship. Taken together, these findings not only deepen our comprehension of the underlying connections between awe and well‐being but also offer valuable theoretical insights for developing awe‐based intervention measures aimed at improving positive attention bias and well‐being.
This study investigated the psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between green consumption values and green purchasing behaviour amongst undergraduates. Using a two‐wave prospective research design, this study surveyed 1198 students from a large university in China. The results showed that students' green consumption values positively related to their green purchasing behaviour, with gratitude serving as a partial mediator. Green product availability moderated both the relationship between gratitude and green purchasing behaviour and the indirect effect of green consumption values on green purchasing behaviour. Notably, when green products were easily accessible, the positive impact of gratitude on purchasing behaviour became weak. Similarly, the indirect effect of gratitude connecting consumption values and purchasing behaviour weakened with increased green product availability. These results offer insights into how and when green consumption values promote undergraduates' green purchasing behaviour, providing important implications for promoting sustainable consumption amongst young people.
Drawing on attachment theory, the present study develops a theoretical model to explore whether, how, and when daily leader secure‐base support impacts employees' daily in‐role and extra‐role performance. To test this model, we employed an experience‐sampling method and collected daily diary data over 3 weeks. Results of multilevel path analysis indicated that daily leader secure‐base support was positively related to both employees' daily in‐role and extra‐role performance. Moreover, we found that daily leader secure‐base support indirectly influenced employees' in‐role performance via their self‐esteem, whereas it indirectly influenced employees' extra‐role performance via their gratitude. Finally, attachment anxiety moderated the within‐person relationship between daily leader secure‐base support and employees' self‐esteem as well as the indirect effect of daily leader secure‐base support on employees' subsequent in‐role performance via their self‐esteem. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, as well as future research directions.
Objective: The effect of a positive treatment approach on improving sleep and reducing pain in patients with multiple sclerosis. Method: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with pre-test and post-test design. The study population consisted of all patients with multiple sclerosis referred to Multiple Sclerosis Association in Rasht city in 2018. The sample were 24 multiple sclerosis patients which assigned to three group ( experimental and control group) by random sampling. For data gathering used to PETERSBURG Sleep Quality Questionnaire and Pain Management. The experiment groups received 8 sessions of positive psychotherapy and no intervention was done for control group. Findings: Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data Results showed that positive psychotherapy therapy increases quality of sleep and pain management in MS patients (001/0>P). Conclusion: These findings suggest that positive psychotherapy is effective on psychological variables and can be used as complementary therapies in addition to drug therapies for patients with multiple sclerosis.
Gratitude expressions provide shared warmth benefits to both the thanker and the helper. Little work has explored how gratitude expressions shift how observers see these individuals on another important dimension: their relative rank. We consider how the magnitude of gratitude expressions shapes observers’ perceptions of the thanker’s and helper’s relative status and power. Seven studies find that thankers who expressed more, compared to less, intense gratitude than expected made their helpers seem relatively higher rank, though this pattern was inconsistent across metrics of gratitude in studies using real-world expressions. These effects emerged across a range of contexts and relationships. Mechanism analyses yielded several null results, while underscoring the role of perceptions of agency. Observers may make their inferences directly, based on intuiting the real association between a thanker’s gratitude and their helper’s power and status. Our findings demonstrate that gratitude signals rank relationships, qualifying current recommendations to express gratitude publicly.
Sažetak: Cilj rada je predstaviti rezultate istraživanja o efektima djelovanja izražavanja zahvalnosti na psihološko blagostanje djece i mladih. Zahvalnost predstavlja osobinu ili dispoziciju ličnosti koja se manifestira u sklonosti prepoznavanja pozitivnih akcija drugih i reagiranju emocijom zahvalnosti, a također i socijalnu emociju koja se javlja u trenutku kada osoba postane svjesna doživljenog pozitivnog i neočekivanog događaja, dok subjektivno psihološko blagostanje predstavlja mentalno stanje koje se odnosi na pozitivnu ili negativnu evaluaciju vlastitog života, kao i na prijatne ili neprijatne afektivne reakcije izazvane evaluacijom vlastitih životnih iskustava. Dosadašnji naučnici najviše su se bavili ispitivanjem efekata izražavanja zahvalnosti na psihološko blagostanje ljudi. Kada su u pitanju djeca i mladi, dokazali su da izražavanje zahvalnosti djeluje pozitivno i na psihološko blagostanje djece i mladih, tj. da razvija ugodno mentalno stanje koje se na kognitivnom planu manifestira kroz izražavanje općeg zadovoljstva životom, zatim kroz optimističnost i ispunjenost nadom uz očekivanje pozitivnih ishoda u životu te zadovoljstvo školom, na emocionalnom planu kroz doživljavanje prijatnih osjećanja, a na socijalnom planu kroz spremnost na opraštanje, pomaganje drugima i integraciju. Naučnici su dokazali da se može i uvježbavati izražavanje zahvalnosti kod djece i mladih putem tehnika zahvalnosti, i na taj način ciljano intervenirati u pravcu poboljšanja njihovog psihološkog blagostanja. Ključne riječi: zahvalnost, psihološko blagostanje, djeca, mladi, tehnike zahvalnosti Uvod Iako je zahvalnost unutar religija poput judaizma, kršćanstva i islama stoljećima bila predstavljena kao vrlo cijenjena vrlina (McCullough i sar., 2001), psiholozi su je počeli znan-stveno proučavati unutar pozitivne psihologije tek u posljednja dva de-setljeća. Definirali su je kao osobinu ili dispoziciju ličnosti koja se manifestira u sklonosti prepoznavanja pozitivnih akcija drugih i reagovanju emocijom zahvalnosti (McCullough, Emmons i Tsang, 2002), ali i kao socijalnu emociju koja se javlja u trenutku kada osoba postane svjesna doživljenog pozitivnog i neočekivanog događa-ja. (Watkins, 2004) Proučavali su i kako se razvija doživljaj i izražavanje zahvalnosti tokom dobi, međutim, u najvećoj mjeri proučavali su efekte djelovanja izražavanja zahvalnosti na psihološko blagostanje ljudi, tj. zanimalo ih je da li i kako izražava-nje zahvalnosti utječe na procjenu zadovoljstva ljudi vlastitim životom u cjelini ili u pojedinim aspektima, kao i na emocionalne reakcije na vlastite životne događaje. Utvrdili su da izražavanje zahvalnosti doprinosi unapređenju mentalnog i fizičkog zdravlja te poboljšanju socijalnih odnosa ljudi (Emmons i McCullough, 2004; Fredrickson, 2001; Wood i sar., 2009), zatim da doprinosi sprečavanju razvoja nepoželjnih i negativnih ko-gnicija, afekata, sjećanja i određenih psihičkih problema. (Watkins, 2014; Seligman i sar., 2006; Woodward, Moua, i Watkins, 1998; Seligman, Rashid i Parks, 2006) Realizirali su brojna istraživanja, i to ne samo na UDK 159.922.7
The chapter delves into the integration of mindfulness in leadership, emphasizing its significance in navigating global complexities. The introduction highlights the critical role of mindfulness for modern leaders and outlines the chapter's objectives. It explores theoretical frameworks, providing a comprehensive understanding of mindfulness and its historical development in leadership. Empirical research demonstrates the positive impact of mindfulness on leadership effectiveness, supported by case studies. The chapter also examines mindfulness in promoting sustainable business practices and its benefits during organizational change. Strategies for incorporating mindfulness into change management and addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are discussed. Practical techniques for developing mindful leaders are presented, along with best practices from successful organizations. The chapter concludes with key points, future research directions, and the importance of mindful leadership in driving global change.
This study aimed at studying the relationship between trait gratitude and friendship qualities and their levels, in addition to examining the possibility of gender differences in this relationship in secondary grade students in Amman for the academic year (2021-2022). The study sample consisted of (205) students attending public schools in Amman, they were selected using simple random method. Results showed low level of gratitude in comparison with standardization samples, as it was lower than first quarantile. The highest level of friendship qualities was for help, then closeness as both were high level. While companion, security, and conflict were of medium levels. No gender differences in levels of gratitude, companion, and conflict. Gender differences for females in levels of help, security, and closeness. As for relationship between gratitude and friendship qualities, there were significant positive correlations for all positive qualities of friendship: closeness, help, companion, security and their correlation coefficients were (r= .25, .24, .20, .17) in order. No significant correlation found for conflict as a negative friendship quality. For gender differences, the following gratitude correlations were significant in females only: companion, security, and closeness. While gratitude correlation to conflict was significant in males only (r=-.27). For friendship quality, help the relationship to gratitude was significant in both genders but the difference in coefficients was not significant.
Background
The study of gratitude has been a trending subject in psychology and emerging in health sciences education. For the past several years, interest has been aroused through various published contributions that still lack scientific support, so it is necessary to have instruments that obtain valid and reliable data about it. Gratitude has proven to be sensitive to different cultures. This research aims to determine the psychometric properties using a combined scale to measure dispositional gratitude in health sciences faculty.
Method
A quantitative study was conducted with a non-experimental trans-sectional design with a correlational scope, with a sample of 216 professors of health sciences in a northeastern Mexico private university divided into subsamples for an Exploratory Factor Analysis (n = 113) and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (n = 103). The Gratitude Questionnaire, Work Questionnaire and Brief Interactive Optimism-Garcia was applied to 110 women, 104 men and 2 who prefer not to specify their gender.
Results
The result was a unifactorial measurement model composed of 10 items with evidence of construct validity (χ² = 59.83, df = 20, p < 0.001, χ²/df = 59.83/20 = 2.99, SRMR = 0.11, GFI = 0.96; NFI = 0.93, RFI = 0.91, AGFI = 0.93), PRATIO = 0.78, PNFI = 0.73; concurrent validity with interactive optimism (r = 0.45, p < 0.001); convergent validity (AVE = 0.42); and reliability (α = 0.88; ω = 0.88).
Conclusions
This model measures dispositional gratitude in health sciences Mexican faculty and contributes a vital instrument to advance future educational innovations involving this construct. The validation of the one-factor model with convergent reliability and validity suggests that the total scale score serves as an adequate measure of gratitude. Finally, it represents a valuable contribution to the teaching of health sciences since it generates healthy environments with prosocial attitudes that facilitate flourishing in personal and academic life, and in the future, health professionals with humanism as their standard.
Physician burnout, studied for over fifty years in scientific literature, has been shown to negatively affect physician health, patient care, and the healthcare system. While various commendable systemic and individualistic approaches have been described and actively implemented to minimize burnout, it is important to also consider approaches to maximize physician wellness. For the Catholic physician, the ultimate model of wellness is Jesus Christ, the Divine Physician. In this article, we propose that the physician can follow the spiritual progress model of wellness presented in The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis to address burnout.
People seek happiness when they try to experience as much positive emotion (and as little negative emotion) as possible. A growing body of research suggests that seeking happiness, rather than resulting in yet more happiness, often leads to negative consequences, like less happiness and less available time. Adding to this happiness paradox, the current research examines whether seeking happiness leads to the impairment of self-regulation due to the depletion of regulatory resources. We first demonstrate that trait-level happiness-seeking is associated with worse self-regulation both via self-report (Study 1) and actual behavior (Study 2). This result is corroborated in subsequent experiments that manipulate the pursuit of happiness and find that it, versus a control condition, makes people more vulnerable to lapses in self-control behavior (Study 3) and, versus an accuracy-seeking condition, makes people persist less in a challenging task (Study 4). Our findings suggest that continuous acts of happiness-seeking may cause a chronic depletion of resources, which leads to daily self-regulation failures, a critical component in a cycle of reduced personal happiness and well-being.
Gratitude is a powerful emotion. In healthcare, where patients and families navigate the complexities of illness and recovery, expressing gratitude can become a significant force for healing and connection. The DAISY Award, established to honor the extraordinary compassion and skill of nurses, has become a conduit through which patients and families can articulate their appreciation. This column explores how expressions of gratitude facilitate healing for patients and families, highlight meaningful care attributes, and foster a deeper connection to the healthcare organization.
Amid the limitations of honorary teachers regarding welfare demands, it shows that there is still a sense of satisfaction and happiness even though the lack of income is a burden and an obstacle. These feelings indicate subjective well-being which not only influenced by material but also internal dispositions. The study aimed to examine the effect of the gratitude trait on subjective well-being directly or indirectly through the mediation of the gratitude state. Participants are honorary teachers in Surakarta with the required sample size of 122 - 144 people. Measurements were made using the subjective well-being scale, the gratitude trait scale, and the gratitude state scale. The data were tested using path analysis model regression analysis based on the procedure of the Baron & Kenny mediator. The results showed a greater role contribution to the direct effect (βc' = 0.326) of the gratitude trait on subjective well-being than the indirect effect through the mediation of the gratitude state (βab = 0.068). These results provide an overview of the subjective well-being of honorary teachers associated with the gratitude trait and the gratitude state. Di tengah keterbatasan guru honorer terkait tuntutan kesejahteraan menunjukkan masih terdapat rasa puas dan bahagia meskipun kekurangan pendapatan menjadi beban dan hambatan. Perasaan tersebut menunjukkan kesejahteraan subjektif yang bukan hanya dipengaruhi oleh material, melainkan disposisi internal. Tujuan penelitian adalah menguji pengaruh trait syukur terhadap kesejahteraan subjektif secara langsung maupun tidak langsung melalui mediasi state syukur. Partisipan adalah guru honorer di Surakarta dengan besar sampel yang dibutuhkan sebanyak 122 - 144 orang. Pengukuran dilakukan menggunakan skala kesejahteraan subjektif, skala trait syukur, dan skala state syukur. Data diuji dengan analisis regresi model analisis jalur berdasarkan prosedur mediator Baron & Kenny. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kontribusi peran yang lebih besar pada pengaruh langsung (βc’ =0.326) trait syukur terhadap kesejahteraan subjektif dibandingkan pengaruh tidak langsung melalui mediasi state syukur (βab =0.068). Hasil ini memberikan gambaran kesejahteraan subjektif pada guru honorer yang terkait dengan trait syukur dan state syukur.
Amid the limitations of honorary teachers regarding welfare demands, it shows that there is still a sense of satisfaction and happiness even though the lack of income is a burden and an obstacle. These feelings indicate subjective well-being which not only influenced by material but also internal dispositions. The study aimed to examine the effect of the gratitude trait on subjective well-being directly or indirectly through the mediation of the gratitude state. Participants are honorary teachers in Surakarta with the required sample size of 122 - 144 people. Measurements were made using the subjective well-being scale, the gratitude trait scale, and the gratitude state scale. The data were tested using path analysis model regression analysis based on the procedure of the Baron & Kenny mediator. The results showed a greater role contribution to the direct effect (βc' = 0.326) of the gratitude trait on subjective well-being than the indirect effect through the mediation of the gratitude state (βab = 0.068). These results provide an overview of the subjective well-being of honorary teachers associated with the gratitude trait and the gratitude state. Di tengah keterbatasan guru honorer terkait tuntutan kesejahteraan menunjukkan masih terdapat rasa puas dan bahagia meskipun kekurangan pendapatan menjadi beban dan hambatan. Perasaan tersebut menunjukkan kesejahteraan subjektif yang bukan hanya dipengaruhi oleh material, melainkan disposisi internal. Tujuan penelitian adalah menguji pengaruh trait syukur terhadap kesejahteraan subjektif secara langsung maupun tidak langsung melalui mediasi state syukur. Partisipan adalah guru honorer di Surakarta dengan besar sampel yang dibutuhkan sebanyak 122 - 144 orang. Pengukuran dilakukan menggunakan skala kesejahteraan subjektif, skala trait syukur, dan skala state syukur. Data diuji dengan analisis regresi model analisis jalur berdasarkan prosedur mediator Baron & Kenny. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kontribusi peran yang lebih besar pada pengaruh langsung (βc’ =0.326) trait syukur terhadap kesejahteraan subjektif dibandingkan pengaruh tidak langsung melalui mediasi state syukur (βab =0.068). Hasil ini memberikan gambaran kesejahteraan subjektif pada guru honorer yang terkait dengan trait syukur dan state syukur.
Social distancing is a necessary policy with an unfortunate name. Although maintaining geographical, or physical, distance from one another is important for slowing the spread of COVID-19, people should strive to maintain social connections even while physically apart. That is because the lack of connection and the attendant loneliness that can result from physical distancing are not benign: loneliness can impair well-being and harm health. In this article, we review evidence demonstrating the ill effects of loneliness and summarize actions that psychological science suggests can enhance social connection during the COVID-19 pandemic despite physical distancing. We also discuss ways that governments, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit organizations can help motivate people to adopt these actions. Efforts to mitigate the medical risks of COVID-19 should not have to exacerbate the public health problem of loneliness.
Deriving from the loss and gain spirals of conservation of resources (COR) theory, this research attempts to understand the within‐person, reciprocal relationship between job insecurity and life satisfaction. Using three independent samples from seven‐wave, five‐wave, and 21‐wave annually collected data from New Zealand and Australia, and random intercept cross‐lagged panel models, we find that (1) job insecurity has a negative concurrent relationship with life satisfaction at the between‐person level; (2) job insecurity at an earlier time point has a negative relationship with life satisfaction and a positive relationship with job insecurity at a later time point, indicating that individuals facing an initial threat of resource losses are more prone to further resource depletion, supporting “loss spirals” in COR theory; and (3) life satisfaction at an earlier time point has a positive relationship with life satisfaction at a later time point, supporting “gain spiral” in COR theory. However, life satisfaction is not longitudinally related to job insecurity at a later time point, failing to support the reverse causality. By rigorously investigating the reciprocal within‐person relationship between job insecurity and life satisfaction with two large‐scale panel data sets, these findings strongly support the loss and gain spirals from COR theory.
Given the overall positive influence ethical leaders have on their followers’ performance, the literature has largely assumed that ethical leadership also facilitates the performance of leaders themselves. We challenge this assumption by adopting a within-person perspective to reveal more nuanced relationships between distinct forms of daily ethical leadership and daily leader performance. Building on the affect theory of social exchange (Lawler, 2001), we develop a theoretical model that examines the diverging effects of daily promotion- and prevention-focused ethical leadership on daily leader performance through the reciprocal influence of followers’ affective reactions. Specifically, we predict that whereas daily promotion-focused ethical leadership will elicit follower displayed gratitude toward the leader, daily prevention-focused ethical leadership will elicit follower displayed anger toward the leader. Downstream, we predict that follower displayed gratitude and anger will subsequently influence leaders’ in-role and extra-role performance. We also explore how overall social exchange quality shapes the daily affective and behavioral dynamics between leaders and followers. Results from three studies using a multimethod approach provide convergent support for our model. Overall, this research offers both theoretical and practical insights about the potentially unexpected leader-centric consequences of ethical leadership.
Introduction. This study aims to investigate the effect of loneliness as a psychological vulnerability on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to test some explanatory mechanisms for a better understanding of how loneliness leads to a decrease in the mental and physical health components of HRQoL among older adults. We tested the mediating effect of gratitude and the moderating effect of interpersonal sensitivity, firstly in the relationship between loneliness and mental health and secondly, in the relationship between loneliness and physical health. Method. The sample consisted of 441participants (164 male; 277 female) aged 65 to 90 years old. A structural equation model was tested using IBM SPSS Amos v.26. Results. Gratitude significantly mediated only the relationship between loneliness and the mental health component of HRQoL. Both loneliness and interpersonal sensitivity negatively predicted the two components of HRQoL. Interpersonal sensitivity significantly moderated the relationship between loneliness and the mental and physical health components. Conclusions. Loneliness had a stronger negative impact on mental health, but our findings suggest that the effect on physical health was also significant. Loneliness in itself decreased mental health, but its effect was stronger in older adults with higher interpersonal sensitivity. On the other hand, the impact of loneliness on physical health was significant only when interpersonal sensitivity was low or medium. Our results highlighted some insights into the factors that contribute to a decline in HRQoL in the third age.
This meta-analysis investigated the role of positive emotions in Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) treatment, encompassing 47 studies with 3,284 patients. Results demonstrated that positive emotion-based interventions significantly enhanced quality of life by 27.3% (d = 0.84, 95% CI [0.71, 0.97], p < 0.001) compared to control groups. Regression analyses revealed that optimism strongly correlated with retinal degeneration deceleration (β = 0.62, p < 0.001), while increased gratitude was associated with an 18.7% improvement in visual function (r = 0.41, p < 0.01). Furthermore, a 5-year longitudinal study demonstrated a 31.5% reduction in anxiety (t(412) = 8.76, p < 0.001) and 43.2% increase in treatment adherence (OR = 2.87, 95% CI [2.14, 3.85]) in the intervention group. Mediation analyses identified neuroplasticity (β = 0.31, 95% CI [0.22, 0.40], p < 0.001) and inflammatory modulation (β = 0.28, 95% CI [0.19, 0.37], p < 0.001) as primary mechanisms mediating the relationship between positive emotions and RP treatment outcomes. These findings extend Johnson et al.'s (2019) work on optimism-RP progression correlation and Hinkle et al.'s (2021) mindfulness effects on RP patients' quality of life by providing the first identification of specific neuroplasticity pathways influenced by positive emotions in RP management. Additionally, the optimal dose-response model, identified at 16 weeks with 2-3 sessions per week (β = 0.18 per session, p < 0.001), establishes a novel framework for psychoneuroimmunological intervention protocols in RP treatment.
The gratitude of preschool children is a positive emotion, bringing many physical, psychological, and social benefits to them. Determining the level of their gratitude with an appropriate scale will be an important basis for educational impacts to improve it. By reviewing, synthesizing, analyzing, and evaluating related research works, the article introduces some preschool children's gratitude scales in the world that have been built and used. These scales are mainly in the form of questionnaires or checklists, measured directly on children or through parents. Based on that and the theoretical research results on the gratitude of preschool children, the article provides directions to develop a preschool children's gratitude scale within the context of Vietnam so that future studies can inherit it.
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.
This study examined the relation between personal striving level and psychological and physical well-being. Level refers to the degree of generality versus specificity of one's goal strivings. In 3 studies, 188 Ss generated lists of their personal strivings, which were then rated on specificity level. High-level striving was associated with more psychological distress, particularly depression. Low-level striving was related to higher levels of physical illness. Correlations between striving level and self-reported symptoms were generally not as strong as those between level and the more objective illness indicators. High-level strivings were seen as more difficult and requiring more effort than low-level strivings. Results are interpreted in terms of control theory, goal-setting theory, and the repressive personality style.
The experience of a mood consists of more than emotional states such as happiness, anger, sadness, or fear. It also includes mood management processes that can facilitate or inhibit the experience of the mood reaction. A multidomain framework is described for organizing such experience, and 2 studies are reported that analyzed separately emotion-related and emotion-management-related mood experiences. In both studies, emotion-related experience, including physical, emotional, and cognitive subdomains, could be characterized by Pleasant–Unpleasant and Arousal–Calm dimensions. Also, both studies yielded evidence for the emotion-management dimensions of Plans of Action, Suppression, and Denial. These broader dimensions of mood experience predicted criterion variables such as empathy better than Pleasant–Unpleasant and Arousal–Calm dimensions alone.
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study 1 revealed that self-ratings and observer ratings of the grateful disposition are associated with positive affect and well-being prosocial behaviors and traits, and religiousness/spirituality. Study 2 replicated these findings in a large nonstudent sample. Study 3 yielded similar results to Studies 1 and 2 and provided evidence that gratitude is negatively associated with envy and materialistic attitudes. Study 4 yielded evidence that these associations persist after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity, Neuroticism/negative affectivity, and Agreeableness. The development of the Gratitude Questionnaire, a unidimensional measure with good psychometric properties, is also described.
It is argued that emotions are lawful phenomena and thus can be described in terms of a set of laws of emotion. These laws result from the operation of emotion mechanisms that are accessible to intentional control to only a limited extent. The law of situational meaning, the law of concern, the law of reality, the laws of change, habituation and comparative feeling, and the law of hedonic asymmetry are proposed to describe emotion elicitation; the law of conservation of emotional momentum formulates emotion persistence; the law of closure expresses the modularity of emotion; and the laws of care for consequence, of lightest load, and of greatest gain pertain to emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Posted 3/2000. Develops the hypothesis that intervention strategies that cultivate positive emotions are particularly suited for preventing and treating problems rooted in negative emotions, such as anxiety, depression, aggression, and stress related health problems. B. L. Fredrickson's (1998) broaden-and-build model of positive emotions provides the foundation for this application. According to this model, the form and function of positive and negative emotions are distinct and complementary. Negative emotions narrow an individual's momentary thought–action repertoire toward specific actions that served the ancestral function of promoting survival. By contrast, positive emotions broaden an individual's momentary thought–action repertoire, which in turn can build that individual's enduring personal resources. One implication of the broaden-and-build model is that positive emotions have an undoing effect on negative emotions. A range of intervention and coping strategies are reviewed. These strategies optimize health and well-being to the extent that they cultivate positive emotions. Cultivated positive emotions not only counteract negative emotions, but also broaden individuals' habitual modes of thinking and build their personal resources for coping.
In a study designed to evaluate the divergence of social comparison activities under health threat, breast cancer patients (
n = 94) were assigned randomly to listen to an audiotaped interview in which the target's psychological adjustment and disease prognosis were manipulated to reflect good, poor, and unspecified psychological and physical health status. Results supported hypotheses regarding downward self-evaluative and upward affiliative comparison activity, as well as predictions regarding the influences of comparison dimension. With regard to desire for affiliation, participants demonstrated a greater desire for information and emotional support from the well-adjusted target than from the poorly adjusted target. Self-evaluation of adjustment and prognosis varied as a function of target characteristics, although a pervasive tendency toward downward comparison in self-evaluation also was noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Morita and Naikan therapies from Japan are being introduced into the US, though some cultural modifications have been required. These therapies are summarized, and their indigenous psychological roots are explored. The utilization of Western therapies, particularly psychoanalysis, in Japan is examined for fit in Japanese culture. A comparison of the indigenous Japanese therapies with Western therapies highlights differences and similarities. Cultural differences emerge from this comparison and demonstrate some of the difficulties in importing psychotherapies from other countries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Subjects rated their confidence that each word from a set of 585 words referred to an emotion. As a strategy for discriminating words that refer to genuine emotions from words that refer to other kinds of conditions, ratings were collected in two different linguistic contexts: first, in the context of
feeling something and second, in the context of
being something. We hypothesized that words that referred to genuine emotions would be judged as such when presented in the context of feeling or being (e.g.,
feeling angry and
being angry should both be rated as emotions). Words not referring to genuine emotions, however, were expected to show one of several other patterns. For example, words such as
abandoned, which refer to objective states of the world, were expected to be rated as emotions in the feeling context but not in the being context. A discriminant analysis showed that such patterns could be used to distinguish the categories of a taxonomy of psychological conditions that Ortony, Clore, and Foss (1987) have proposed. The most discriminable categories were the four classes of affective, cognitive, external, and bodily conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Posted 12/21/1999. 120 entering freshmen, at risk for depression on the basis of their pessimistic explanatory style scores, were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: an 8-wk, cognitive–behavioral intervention designed to prevent future depression (seminar group) or to a no-intervention control group. The authors assessed the physical health of these Ss 6–30 mo after entry into the project. Ss in the seminar group had better physical health than did control Ss: fewer self-reported symptoms of physical illness, fewer doctors' visits overall, and fewer illness-related visits to Student Health. They were more likely to visit a doctor for a checkup and had healthier habits of diet and exercise. The authors postulate that the learning of antidepression skills produces better physical health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article challenges the prevailing, semantic view of the cognitive processes underlying similarity judgments of emotions, which assumes that these judgments are based on a property comparison process. An alternative view is proposed, according to which judgments of emotion similarity reflect impressions of the degree of co-occurrence of emotions in everyday life. This
episodic model of similarity judgments was compared in 2 studies with the main existing elaborations of the semantic view, the
dimensional model and the
feature model. Results were best in line with the episodic model. Study I revealed asymmetries in directional similarity judgments that were systematically related to episodic information (i.e., the frequency of emotions) but unrelated to semantic information (i.e., number of features of the emotion concepts). Study 2 replicated the central findings of Study 1 and showed that they held good at the level of individual participants. Findings add to other recent evidence supporting the episodic model of similarity judgments of emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The author's approach is to think with you about what gratitude is, to offer what philosophers call a conceptual analysis of gratitude, and then to use that analysis to show how gratitude as a virtue relates to some emotion dispositions that most would agree constitute or promote unhappiness-resentment, regret, and envy. Because of facts about the conceptual structures of these emotions and the vices they may express, these emotions are in tension with gratitude in various ways, so that the disposition to feel gratitude tends to reduce the dispositions to each of the other emotions and to replace it with something happier. As we explore the conceptual relationships between gratitude and each of these emotion types, the author identifies a number of ways that gratitude contributes to human well-being. The author hopes this discussion clarifies issues and suggests research agendas for those who are more empirically minded. Such empirical research will have presuppositions that the philosopher can help to make explicit; so empirical research cannot settle all questions in this domain. But it can in principle settle questions in a hypothetical mode. Assuming a certain picture of normative human nature, it might be able to establish that gratitude promotes human well-being by mitigating dispositions to resentment, regret, and envy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article reports the results of studies intended to explore further the semantic relations among English terms related to emotional states. The intent was to develop a hierarchical model of semantically homogeneous groups of terms, the features defining each group, and distinguishing characteristics of closely related groups. The research was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, hierarchical clustering was the primary method used to identify a preliminary organization. In the second phase, four highly educated speakers of English, sensitive to fine verbal distinctions, agreed on the classification of a larger set of terms, using the groups identified in the first phase as a starting point. The judges also attempted to specify the features differentiating groups at each level of the hierarchy. Comparisons with other descriptions of the emotional domain and possible uses of the taxonomy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A model is presented to account for the natural selection of what is termed reciprocally altruistic behavior. The model shows how selection can operate against the cheater (non-reciprocator) in the system. Three instances of altruistic behavior are discussed, the evolution of which the model can explain: (1) behavior involved in cleaning symbioses; (2) warning cries in birds; and (3) human reciprocal altruism. Regarding human reciprocal altruism, it is shown that the details of the psychological system that regulates this altruism can be explained by the model. Specifically, friendship, dislike, moralistic aggression, gratitude, sympathy, trust, suspicion, trustworthiness, aspects of guilt, and some forms of dishonesty and hypocrisy can be explained as important adaptations to regulate the altruistic system. Each individual human is seen as possessing altruistic and cheating tendencies, the expression of which is sensitive to developmental variables that were selected to set the tendencies at a balance ap...
Describes 4 views of emotion intensity and quality within the pleasure-arousal theory of emotions. It is argued that only 1 of these views is conceptually and empirically tenable. This view assumes that the quality of emotions, or at least the quality of their "affective core," is determined by the proportion of, and their intensity by the absolute degrees of, experienced pleasure or displeasure (P) and activation or deactivation (A). Results from 2 unidimensional scaling studies, in which a total of 69 affects were rated for the degree of P and A experienced at low, typical, and high intensities, were in accord with this position. 91 college students participated in these studies. To overcome a remaining problem of the theory, namely, that it does not allow one to distinguish among more than a few basic groups of emotions, a "hybrid" cognitive-P-A theory of emotion is proposed, according to which emotions are appraisal-caused patterns of P and A. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It is argued that insufficient attention has been paid to the nature and processes underlying positive experiences. An analogy is drawn between coping with negative events and the processes of taking advantage of, or capitalizing on, positive events. It was hypothesized that expressive displays (e.g., communicating the event to others, celebrating, etc.) and perceived control would be effective capitalizing responses after positive events. These responses were predicted to augment the benefits of the events on temporary moods and longer-term well-being. Two daily-diary studies of college undergraduates showed that expressive responses and perceived control were associated with positive affect above and beyond the benefits due to the valence of the positive events themselves.
Previous research suggests that physical fitness moderates the adverse effects of stressful life events. However, a reliance on self-reports of fitness and health may limit the validity of prior investigations. The present research tested the stress-buffering effect of fitness with subjective and objective indicators of exercise, fitness, and physical well-being. For self-reports of health, both self-reports of exercise and objective measures of fitness showed the buffering effect; however, only objective fitness levels buffered stress when visits to a health facility were considered. Additional evidence indicated that this effect was largely independent of measures of psychological distress. Implications for understanding the link between fitness, stress, and health status are discussed.
Research on social comparison processes has assumed that a comparison in a given direction (upward or downward) will lead to a particular affective reaction. In contrast, the present two studies proposed and found that a comparison can produce either positive or negative feelings about oneself, independent of its direction. Several factors moderated the tendency to derive positive or negative affect from upward and downward comparisons. In Study 1, cancer patients low in self-esteem and with low perceived control over their symptoms and illness were more likely to see downward comparisons as having negative implications for themselves. Those low in self-esteem were also more likely to perceive upward comparisons as negative. In Study 2, individuals with high marital dissatisfaction and those who felt uncertain about their marital relationship were more likely to experience negative affect from upward and downward comparisons. The implications of these findings for social comparison theory and for the coping and adaptation literature are discussed.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators.
Proposes a theory of motivation and emotion in which causal ascriptions play a key role. Evidence is presented indicating that in achievement-related contexts there are a few dominant causal perceptions, and it is suggested that the perceived causes of success and failure share the 3 common properties of locus, stability, and controllability, with intentionality and globality as other possible causal structures. The perceived stability of causes influences changes in expectancy of success; all 3 dimensions of causality affect a variety of common emotional experiences, including anger, gratitude, guilt, hopelessness, pity, pride, and shame. Expectancy and affect, in turn, are presumed to guide motivated behavior. The theory therefore relates the structure of thinking to the dynamics of feeling and action. Analysis of a created motivational episode involving achievement strivings is offered, and numerous empirical observations are examined from this theoretical position. The strength of the empirical evidence and the capability of this theory to address prevalent human emotions are stressed, and examples of research on parole decisions, smoking cessation, and helping behavior are presented to illustrate the generalizability of the theory beyond the achievement-related theoretical focus. (3½ p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
By examining naturalistic conceptions of moral maturity, this project sought a more comprehensive understanding of moral excellence than is evident in dominant theories of moral development. Studies 1 and 2 involved different samples of 120 adults (17-25, 35-55, and 65+ years). Study 3 involved a sample of 180 undergraduates. In Study 1, a free-listing procedure was used to generate the attributes of a highly moral person as well as those for two related person-concepts. In Study 2, a rating procedure for these attributes was used to generate a prototype of the moral person-concept. In Study 3, a similarity-sorting task was used to uncover people's implicit typology of moral maturity. The findings indicate that naturalistic notions of moral excellence not only contain themes of principled reasoning but also reference aspects of moral character and virtue that enlarge our understanding of the psychological functioning of the mature moral agent.
Three studies demonstrated that avoidance personal goals are positively related to physical symptom reports. These results were obtained (a) using both longitudinal and retrospective methodologies and (b) controlling for neuroticism and other alternative predictor variables. In 2 of the studies, a process model was validated in which perceived competence and perceived controlledness were shown to mediate the observed relationship between avoidance goals and symptomatology. Specifically, avoidance goals predicted perceived competence and perceived controlledness, and these variables in turn predicted longitudinal and retrospective symptom reports. Ancillary results help clarify the unique roles of neuroticism and avoidance goals as predictors of physical symptomatology.
Although research on coping over the past 30 years has produced convergent evidence about the functions of coping and the factors that influence it, psychologists still have a great deal to learn about how coping mechanisms affect diverse outcomes. One of the reasons more progress has not been made is the almost exclusive focus on negative outcomes in the stress process. Coping theory and research need to consider positive outcomes as well. The authors focus on one such outcome, positive affect, and review findings about the co-occurrence of positive affect with negative affect during chronic stress, the adaptive functions of positive affect during chronic stress, and a special class of meaning-based coping processes that support positive affect during chronic stress.
We tested two interventions for improving sleep consolidation and depth in normal elderly participants: a modification of
sleep-restriction therapy and sleep-hygiene education. Twenty-one elderly participants without sleep disorders were randomized
to sleep hygiene plus bed restriction (i.e., restricting time in bed by 30 minutes nightly for one year) or to sleep hygiene
alone. Participants in the bed-restriction group showed a median increase in sleep efficiency of 6.1% versus 1.8% in participants
receiving sleep hygiene instruction, and an increase in all-night delta EEG power. Self-reported mood on awakening in the
morning showed greater improvement over the first eight weeks in the sleep-hygiene condition. The use of sleep hygiene was
associated with initial improvement in daytime well-being, whereas bed restriction led to sustained improvements in sleep
continuity and sleep depth.
This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is Suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.
Gratitude is an emotional state and an attitude toward life that is a source of human strength in enhancing one's personal and relational well-being. In this article, we first explore the theological origins of gratitude as a virtue to be cultivated in the major monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each tradition emphasizes the development of gratitude as a path to a good life, and prescribes approaches for practicing. Gratitude is explored further in the context of psychological theory and research. Empirical research linking gratitude with well-being and goal attainment is presented and discussed. Finally, future research questions and a tentative research agenda are presented.
This introduction to the two-part special issue reviews recent evidence that suggests that positive mood may play a beneficial, multifaceted, and flexible role in self-regulatory processes that cannot be explained by most current theories. First, under some conditions positive mood seems to facilitate careful processing of goal-relevant information, even negative information. Second, the relation of positive mood to cognition and behavior seems to be strongly moderated by goal-relevant features of the task context. Three frameworks (mood as input, processing advantages conferred by positive mood, and mood as resource) that may account for these facilitating effects of positive mood on self-regulation are discussed.
Henry Fleming, the central character of (Stephen Crane’s (1952/1895)) Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, eagerly joins the Union army although he knows little about war. Only much later does he realize how ignorant he is about whether he will run when the fighting starts. This uncertainty about himself sets off a disguised but full-scale search for social comparisons until, through the gut check of battle, he can “… watch his legs discover their merits and their faults” (Crane, 1952/1895, p. 21). Much of the classic and current social comparison theory would find support in how Fleming uses social comparisons during the several days portrayed in the novel (Suls & Miller, 1977; Suls & Wills, 1991). Festinger (1954) emphasized the role of uncertainty in motivating a person’s interest in social comparisons, and it is Fleming’s ignorance about his own capacity for bravery that first prompts him to probe for fears among the other soldiers so as “… to measure himself by his comrades” (Crane, 1952/1895, p. 21). Even the seemingly objective test of battle is confounded by social comparisons. In an early battle, Fleming panics and runs, but it is the sight of other soldiers turning tail first that induces his behavior, creating in social comparison terms a form of social validation (Cialdini, 1993) that spurs him to “…speed toward the rear in great leaps” (Crane, 1952/1895, p. 47).
Physical symptoms are fascinating phenomena to examine. We all experience them, use them as signals to guide our behavior, and usually assume that they accurately represent underlying physiological activity. At the same time, we implicitly know that bodily sensations are often vague, ambiguous, and subject to a variety of interpretations. It is not surprising, then, that there is often a disparity between what we think is going on in our bodies and what is objectively occurring. In short, phenomena such as physical symptoms are the stuff of psychology. My own research into physical symptoms started by accident several years ago. In a hastily devised experiment dealing with the effects of noise on behavior, I had to write a post-experimental questionnaire that would be long enough to allow the experimenter time to calibrate some equipment for a later portion of the study. I included some physical symptoms on the questionnaire as fillers. The experiment was a total failure, with the exception of the symptom reports. People's perceptions of symptoms were easily influenced by our manipulations, even though their actual physiological state had not changed. And so began the present inquiry. Despite the pervasiveness, importance, and sheer amount of time and money devoted to discussing and curing common physical symptoms and sensations, very little empirical work has been devoted to examining the psychological and perceptual factors related to sensory experience. Occa sional papers have tested a specific theory, such as cognitive dissonance, wherein physical symptoms served as an interesting dependent measure."
This study provides evidence that people evaluate their control over events and over feelings separately with respect to both positive and negative experiences Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that subjects made separate self-evaluations of control regarding their ability to (a) avoid negative outcomes, (b) cope with negative outcomes, (c) obtain positive outcomes, and (d) savor positive outcomes In addition, beliefs about avoiding and obtaining were more highly correlated (r = 50) than were beliefs about coping and savoring (r= 27) It is argued that coping and savoring involve different sets of cognitive and behavioral skills Multiple regression analyses generally indicated that beliefs about avoiding and coping related more strongly to measures of subjective distress, whereas beliefs about obtaining and strongly related more strongly to measures of subjective well-being These four control beliefs are discussed in relation to other conceptual models of control, and ways in which savoring may promote perceived control are described
In this paper we report a study examining Weiner's (1986) predictions concerning the relationships between attributional dimensions, emotions, and behaviour, using a causal modelling procedure (LISREL). In two studies, freshmen (N = 585 and 621) who had taken their midterm exams, reported the cause of their outcome, its dimensional properties, and their emotional reactions. These data were then related to subsequent performance at the final exams. In support of Weiner's predictions, results indicated distinct relationships between midterm outcome and the primary emotions of happiness and sadness; between internal attributions and the self-esteem emotions of pride and shame; between stable attributions and expectations and the anticipatory emotions of hope, despair, and anxiety; between attributions of personal control and the moral emotions of guilt; and between external control and the social emotions of gratitude and anger. Contrary to predictions, happiness and sadness were further intensified by internal attributions. No other significant linkages between attributions and emotions were found. As predicted, performance at the final exams was influenced by freshmen's expectations, but contrary to the predictions, performance remained generally unrelated to freshmen's emotions.
Myers and Diener (1995) asked “Who is happy?” but examined the question of who is more and who is less happy In fact, most people report a positive level of subjective well-being (SWB), and say that they are satisfied with domains such as marriage, work, and leisure People in disadvantaged groups on average report positive well-being, and measurement methods in addition to self-report indicate that most people's affect is primarily pleasant Cross-national data suggest that there is a positive level of SWB throughout the world, with the possible exception of very poor societies In 86% of the 43 nations for which nationally representative samples are available the mean SWB response was above neutral Several hypotheses to explain the positive levels of SWB are discussed
This report presents results from a study of the dimensionality and longitudinal stability of some common self-reported somatic complaints in teenage girls. Data were supplied by the Swedish longitudinal research program “Individual Development and Adaptation”. At four age levels (age 10, 13, 15, and 16 years) a representative sample of approximately 500 girls filled out questionnaires on various adjustment problems, including some typical somatic complaints. A separate dimension of somatic complaints was identified at each age level through factor analysis of the questionnaire data. Correlational stability of somatic complaints was not high until middle adolescence. At this age fairly stable patterns of somatic complaints were also found at the individual level; different somatic complaints were not found to be interchangeable. The results support the interpretation of girls' somatic complaints as a single, meaningful dimension in late childhood and adolescence. This dimension may be hypothesized to constitute a psychological process, somatization, manifesting itself in fairly stable patterns at the individual level in middle adolescence.
Previous studies have shown that people feel lucky in situations that could easily have turned into something worse. The present investigation was designed to focus more closely on the comparative aspect of luck, using a linguistic approach (Study 1 and 2) as well as self-reports of perceived luck accompanying selected emotional episodes (Study 3). The participants in Study 1 were asked to comment upon the difference between describing a state of affairs as “lucky” vs. “good”. The term “lucky“ was frequently seen to imply a comparison process, sometimes expressing gratitude (“It is lucky I have a family”) and at other times envy (“it is lucky you have a job”). This was confirmed in Study 2 where statements about self and other being lucky or unlucky were rated for implying comparison, gratitude, envy, concern, and impression of speaker. In Study 3, 60 students described situations in which they had felt grateful towards other people as well as towards “life in general”. Questionnaire answers revealed that they also had felt very lucky and had been thinking “it could have been different”. They also produced recollections of envy, which were rated to imply others' good luck and own bad luck, which could easily have been interchanged (“it could have been merdquo;). It is concluded that counterfactual thoughts are decisive for the experiences of luck, gratitude, and envy.
This article opens by noting that positive emotions do not fit existing models of emotions. Consequently, a new model is advanced to describe the form and function of a subset of positive emotions, including joy, interest, contentment, and love. This new model posits that these positive emotions serve to broaden an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire, which in turn has the effect of building that individual's physical, intellectual, and social resources. Empirical evidence to support this broaden-and-build model of positive emotions is reviewed, and implications for emotion regulation and health promotion are discussed.
Improving quality of life has always been a goal of rehabilitation medicine. However, health care providers often do not know much about the quality of life of individuals with neuromuscular diseases, nor what factors are critical to achieving a good quality of life. Lack of knowledge about subjective quality of life factors can negatively influence expectations and selection of treatments. In the most glaring cases, a physician's subjective but incorrect assessment of a disabled individuals' quality of life may prevent life-sustaining interventions. As a group, the quality of life of individuals with NMD is not much different than nondisabled controls and is substantially better than presumed by the general public and, often times, by health care workers. Nevertheless, their quality of life is reduced in certain areas. Surprisingly, level of disability is not a critical factor that significantly alters life satisfaction. Presumably, this is because physical functioning has been adequately managed. The greatest problems that individuals with neuromuscular disease identified were: lack of information about the disease and services; poor coordination of services; negative attitudes; and a diminished expectation of their potential. In addition, people with severe disabilities had significant problems obtaining, financing, and managing personal care attendants. Factors related to a good quality of life were related to perceived control, perceived health status, but not disability. The more that people could do for themselves, either on their own or with personal care assistants, assistive devices, and use of technology, the better their quality of life.
Indebtedness as a mediator of reactions to aid.
- Greenberg
The cross-cultural comparison of emotion.
- Solomon