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Gratitude, Empathy, and Resilience Among Emerging Adults in Poland
Abstract
Agnieszka Lasota*, Katarzyna Tomaszek*, Sandra Bosacki**,
*Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland
**Brock University, Canada
GRATITUDE, EMPATHY, AND RESILIENCE AMONG EMERGING ADULTS IN POLAND
Introduction
The current focus on the field of positive psychology analyzes these factors of human functioning that make people able to overcome their limitations and successfully studied include that of gratitude has been the focus of researchers is gratitude. Gratitude plays a very important role in emotional well-being (McCullough et al., 2002, Watkins et al., 2003). Gratitude experiences were also positively associated with increased empathy towards others (Elfers & Hlava, 2016) and a reduced level of aggressive behavior, as well as with greater psychological immunity (Gardner, 2014).
Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the gendered relations among levels of gratitude, empathy, and resilience in young adults.
Method
The population consists of 230 respondents in early adulthood within Poland
Tools:
The GRAT – R Questionnaire (Thomas, Watkins, 2003, Polish adaptation Tomaszek, Lasota).
The Polish scale SPP-25, (Ogińska-Bulik, Juczyński, 2008)
The QCAE: A Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (R. Reniers et al., 2011, Polish adaptation Lasota, Tomaszek)
Results
The results of the research indicate the existence of significant gender differences between females and males in terms of empathy and gratitude. No gender differences were found in resilience, whereas compared to females, males scored higher on the scale Optimist attitude to life. Separate correlational analysis for females and males showed that sex was a factor in differentiating the existence of relations between these three variables. Results showed significant correlations between gratefulness factors and resilience components across genders. Regression analysis showed significant gender equations.
Conclusion
The results indicate a strong link between gratitude and empathy, and between gratitude and resilience. Correlation analyses, taking into account gender, confirmed the existence of gender-related differences in the experience of gratitude and empathy among emerging adults. Findings showed that compared to males the level of females’ gratitude is affected by more components of resilience. Implications for health education for emerging adults will be discussed.
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It is well established that gratitude favours prosocial tendencies in neutral and amicable social interactions. Less is clear, however, about the role of gratitude in threatening situations that breed competitive impulses. As gratitude inhibits self-centred impulses and motivates a communal orientation, we predict and demonstrate that gratitude reduces competitive behaviour in threatening interactions. In Study 1 (N = 171), after emotion induction, participants went through the classic Trucking game paradigm, whereby a bogus opponent behaved in a competitive manner (i.e. closing the gate on them). Gratitude, as compared to joy and a neutral mood state, reduced participants’ competitive behaviour against the opponent. In Study 2 (N = 422), after losing to a bogus opponent on a self-relevant task, participants were given an opportunity to sabotage the opponent’s chances of winning a lottery. Individuals induced to feel gratitude showed less sabotaging behaviour than those in a neutral mood state. Importantly, this effect was only observed against a highly competitive, but not a neutral, opponent, suggesting that gratitude inhibits competitive behaviour only under high threat. Our findings suggest that gratitude is instrumental in arresting the competitive cycles from developing in threatening social interactions.
The purpose of the article is to present the results of the Polish adaptation of the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (Revised GRAT), published by P.C. Watkins, K. Woodward, T. Stone & R.L. Kolts. This tool is meant for the measurement of an individual disposition of gratitude. In literature, the concept of gratitude is vague. A shallow, although very common defi nition explains the concept as experiencing positive emotional states caused by receiving good from others. A broader picture, in accordance with the philosophy of the original authors, is treating gratitude as a certain disposition, general trait, encompassing not only the interpersonal context
(gratitude towards the giver), but also the transpersonal and existential contexts, such as appreciation for the beauty of nature or the simple joys of everyday life. Because of a lack of Polish sources defi ning gratitude as such a complex construct, it seems appropriate to choose adaptations.
Abstract Background The higher level of participation by women in medicine may impact this profession’s evolution due to gender differences perceived during medical school, after graduation and during residency. Gender differences regarding quality of life are associated with higher states of anxiety and depression among female physicians. We aimed to assess gender differences in the perception of quality of life with quantitative methods and to understand further, from the female residents´ point of view, the reasons that may influence the perception of quality of life using qualitative method. Resilience, empathy and daytime sleepiness were also scored. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study with first-year internal medicine residents to evaluate self-reported quality of life factors specific to medical residents (VERAS-Q), including empathy (Jefferson Scale of Empathy), resilience (Wagnild and Young Brief Resilience Scale) and daytime sleepiness (Epworth Scale). We explored, from the female residents´ view which factors may influence the perception of quality of life using a focus group method. Results In our study, one hundred and nine residents completed the survey: 31 (28.4%) were female and 78 (71.6%) were male. Female residents exhibited significantly lower scores than those of male residents for quality of life in the domains of time management (30.3, females vs 41.1, males; p
Dispositional gratitude was investigated in 190 (96 M, 94 F) participants with saliva samples genotyped for the oxytocin receptor gene single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs53576 (112 A-carriers, 78 GGs). Trait gratitude was measured using the Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6), and trait empathy was assessed with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern). Due to non-normal distributions of the GQ-6 by SNP group and by gender, non-parametric analyses using simulations and bootstrap 95% CIs were conducted. Results show main effects of SNP group (with GGs scoring higher than A-carriers) and gender (with females scoring higher than males) on trait gratitude. Given the associations of both the OXTR SNP rs53576 and gender with empathy, and the prosocial associations of trait empathy and gratitude, we tested an indirect effects model using PROCESS. Results showed that both SNP group and gender had an indirect effect on trait gratitude through trait empathy.
In three studies we investigated joy and its relationship to subjective well-being (SWB). We developed measures of joy based on recent conceptualizations of joy in the humanities and social sciences. In Studies 1 and 2 we developed reliable measures of state and trait joy. In Study 3 we used a two-month prospective design to investigate the relationship of joy to gratitude and SWB. We found that dispositional gratitude predicted increases in state joy over time. We also found that trait joy predicted increases in state gratitude, providing evidence for an intriguing upward spiral between joy and gratitude. Finally, we found that trait joy was associated with increases in SWB over time. Factor analyses indicated that joy loaded separately from other positive emotions. We conclude that joy is a discrete positive emotion, it can be measured reliably with self-report instruments, and that it may be an important component of well-being.
The expression of gratitude by children and young adolescents in different societies is the topic of this special issue. We introduce the concept of gratitude as a virtue, explaining its differences from gratitude viewed as a positive emotion. Although most research on gratitude uses samples from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies (primarily from the United States), we discuss the importance of studying the development of gratitude across different cultural groups. Despite the evidence to suggest that the expression of gratitude is viewed as desirable across multiple societies and historical periods, there is no reason to assume that developmental pathways found in one or other WEIRD society would be found in non-WEIRD societies or that the latter would have similar pathways. Children’s gratitude expression across countries is explored in this special issue using Baumgarten-Tramer’s (1938) paradigm as well as Kağıtçıbaşı’s (2007) framework to address both differences and similarities across cultures.
Positive emotions are highly valued and frequently sought. Beyond just being pleasant, however, positive emotions may also lead to long-term benefits in important domains, including work, physical health, and interpersonal relationships. Research thus far has focused on the broader functions of positive emotions. According to the broaden-and-build theory, positive emotions expand people's thought-action repertoires and allow them to build psychological, intellectual, and social resources. New evidence suggests that positive emotions - particularly gratitude - may also play a role in motivating individuals to engage in positive behaviors leading to self-improvement. We propose and offer supportive evidence that expressing gratitude leads people to muster effort to improve themselves via increases in connectedness, elevation, humility, and specific negative states including indebtedness.
Resilience, commonly understood as the ability to maintain adaptive functioning in the face of adversity, has emerged as a salient entry point in the field of positive youth development. This study makes a unique contribution by exploring dimensions of resilience among adolescents in Uganda, examining associations between violence from different perpetrators and resilience, and testing whether sex moderates these relationships. Analyses are based on data from 3706 primary school students. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified five factors underlying the construct of resilience: Emotional Support; Family Connectedness; School Connectedness; Social Assets; and Psychological Assets. We used regression analysis to investigate associations between these dependent variables, background characteristics, and experiences of violence (including exposure to intimate partner violence against female caregivers). Results reflect a complex relationship between violence and resilience, with patterns varying by perpetrator (e.g., teacher, peers, caregivers) and some evidence that the sex of the student moderates these dynamics. Overall, there is a consistently negative relationship between all violence measures and Psychological Assets. In addition, teacher violence is associated with lower resilience across factors and both caregiver violence and exposure to IPV are consistently associated with decreased Family Connectedness. These findings suggest that adolescents experiencing (and exposed to) violence from adults may be particularly vulnerable to internalizing and/or externalizing behaviors and withdrawal from the family. Findings point to preventing violence from teachers complemented with enhancing family relationships as promising avenues for resilience-strengthening interventions, and also emphasize the need to consider gendered strategies to ensure girls and boys benefit equally.
Empathy plays a crucial role in healthy social functioning and in maintaining positive social relationships. In this study, 1250 children and adolescents (10–15 year olds) completed the newly developed Empathy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (EmQue-CA) that was tested on reliability, construct validity, convergent validity, and concurrent validity. The EmQue-CA aims to assess empathy using the following scales: affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and intention to comfort. A Principal Components Analysis, which was directly tested with a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, confirmed the proposed three-factor model resulting in 14 final items. Reliability analyses demonstrated high internal consistency of the scales. Furthermore, the scales showed high convergent validity, as they were positively correlated with related scales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983). With regard to concurrent validity, higher empathy was related to more attention to others’ emotions, higher friendship quality, less focus on own affective state, and lower levels of bullying behavior. Taken together, we show that the EmQue-CA is a reliable and valid instrument to measure empathy in typically developing children and adolescents aged 10 and older.
Background:
Previous research has linked genomic variations of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene with individual differences in empathy. The impact of these variations on specific cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy, however, remains to be clarified.
Methods:
We analysed associations of a common OXTR polymorphism (rs53576) with trait empathy in a sample of 421 blood donors (231 M, 190 F; age 18-74) using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) as an established multidimensional self-report measure of empathy.
Results:
Female sex was significantly associated with higher empathy scores in all IRI scales (p<0.001) with the exception of the cognitive perspective taking scale (p = 0.09). The overall trait empathy score was significantly associated with rs53576 (p = 0.01), with mean scores increasing from AA to GG genotypes. An analysis of the IRI subscores revealed that the polymorphism was especially associated with the emotional empathic concern scale (p = 0.02). Separate analysis of the male and female subgroup revealed a significant association of the polymorphism with female (p = 0.04), but not with male (p = 0.20) empathic concern. A comparison of effect sizes between the groups showed greater effects for women compared to men although effect size differences did not become significant in our sample.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest a significant association of the rs53576 OXTR gene polymorphism with trait empathy and especially with emotional aspects of empathy. This association is possibly weaker or absent in men compared to women.
A good sense of humor has been implicated as a quality that could contribute to psychological well-being. The mechanisms through which sense of humor might operate include helping to reappraise threats, serving as a character strength, or facilitating happiness. The current research attempts to integrate these possibilities by examining whether a good sense of humor might operate globally by helping to maintain a more stable positive affect. Stable positive affect has been shown to facilitate more effective problem solving and to build resilience. However, not all humor is adaptive humor, so we also examine the roles that different styles of humor use might play. Individual differences in humor styles were used to predict stable levels of affect. Then, in a longitudinal design, humor styles and stable affect were used to predict subsequent resilience and psychological health. The results indicated that stable affect was related to resilience and psychological well-being, and that a sense of humor that involves self-enhancing humor, humor based on maintaining a humorous perspective about one’s experiences, was positively related to stable positive affect, negatively related to stable negative affect, and was mediated through stable affect in influencing resilience, well-being and distress. Thus, while a good sense of humor can lead to greater resilience and better psychological health, the current results, focusing on stable affect, find only self-enhancing humor provides reliable benefits.
Background
There is a range of potential responses to stress and trauma. Whereas, on one extreme, some respond to stress and trauma by developing psychiatric disorders (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, PTSD), on the other extreme are the ones who exhibit resilience. Resilience is broadly defined as adaptive characteristics of an individual to cope with and recover from adversity.
Objective
Understanding of the factors that promote resilience is warranted and can be obtained by interviewing and learning from particularly resilient individuals as well as empirical research. In this paper, we discuss a constellation of factors comprising cognitive, behavioral, and existential elements that have been identified as contributing to resilience in response to stress or trauma.
Results
The psychosocial factors associated with resilience include optimism, cognitive flexibility, active coping skills, maintaining a supportive social network, attending to one's physical well-being, and embracing a personal moral compass.
Conclusions
These factors can be cultivated even before exposure to traumatic events, or they can be targeted in interventions for individuals recovering from trauma exposure. Currently available interventions for PTSD could be expanded to further address these psychosocial factors in an effort to promote resilience. The cognitive, behavioral, and existential components of psychosocial factors that promote individual resilience can also inform efforts to promote resilience to disaster at the community level.
VOLUME 31 Gratitude has recently received a significant amount of research attention in the emerging field of positive psychology. Gratitude interventions are being empirically validated and are showing great promise in enhancing lije satisfaction, decreasing depression and anxiety, coping with adversity, facilitating relationships, building civic and moral aspirations and behaviors, and promoting physiological benefits as well. This article will tie the empirical literature to an LDS theology that has long taught and currently advocates for the cultivation ofgratitude as an essential component of a spiritually based, meaningful, and happy life. An empirical overview of the benefits of gratitude will be provided, potential gratitude interventions will be suggested, and principles for intervention effectiveness will be discussed. L ouisa Mellor Clark was the oldest living child of James and Mary Ann Mellor who crossed the plains in the Martin handcart company. Louisa was 16 at the time of the handcart trek. She recorded the following incident in her journal: The first snowstorm left about two feet of snow on the ground, and we began to feel very nervous. We had to wade through more streams, and sometimes up to our waists, and when we got through our clothes would freeze on us until a gteat many gave up and many died, mostly old people. At last the snow got to be four and five feet deep and often we had to shovel a road before we could move. Thus our traveling was very slow and our provisions nearly gave out. My mother, still being weak, finally gave up and said she could go no further. The company could not wait for her, so she bade my father goodbye and kissed each one of the children Godspeed. Then my mother sat down on a boulder and wept. I told my sister, Elizabeth, to take 33 good care of the twins and the rest of the family, and that I would stay with mother. I went a few yards away and prayed with faith that God would help us, that He would protect us from devouring wolves, and asked that He would let us reach camp. As I was going back to where my mother was sitting I found a pie in the road. I picked it up and gave it to mother to eat. After resting awhile we started on our journey, thanking God for the blessings. A few miles before we reached camp we met my father coming out to meet us. We arrived in camp at 10:00 p.m. Many times after that mother felt like giving up and quitting, but then would remember how wonderful the Lord had been to spare her Vaughn E. Worthen, PhD, is a Clinical Pnifessor of Counseling Psychology at Brigh'1In Young University in Provo, Utah. Riehm'd L. I-"lbon, PhD, is a Clinical Professor of Counseling Psychology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Both work in the Counseling and Career Center on the BYU campw. Correspondence conceming this article should be addressed to
The purpose of these studies was to develop a valid measure of trait gratitude, and to evaluate the relationship of gratitude to subjective well-being (SWB). Four studies were conducted evaluating the reliability and validity of the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT),
a measure of dispositional gratitude. This measure was shown to have good internal consistency and temporal stability. The GRAT was shown to relate positively to various measures of SWB. In two experiments, it was shown that grateful thinking improved mood, and results also supported the predictive
validity of the GRAT. These studies support the theory that gratitude is an affective trait important to SWB.
Empathy accounts for the naturally occurring subjective experience of similarity between the feelings expressed by self and others without loosing sight of whose feelings belong to whom. Empathy involves not only the affective experience of the other person's actual or inferred emotional state but also some minimal recognition and understanding of another's emotional state. In light of multiple levels of analysis ranging from developmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical neuropsychology, this article proposes a model of empathy that involves parallel and distributed processing in a number of dissociable computational mechanisms. Shared neural representations, self-awareness, mental flexibility, and emotion regulation constitute the basic macrocomponents of empathy, which are underpinned by specific neural systems. This functional model may be used to make specific predictions about the various empathy deficits that can be encountered in different forms of social and neurological disorders.
There is strong evidence that empathy has deep evolutionary, biochemical, and neurological underpinnings. Even the most advanced forms of empathy in humans are built on more basic forms and remain connected to core mechanisms associated with affective communication, social attachment, and parental care. Social neuroscience has begun to examine the neurobiological mechanisms that instantiate empathy, especially in response to signals of distress and pain, and how certain dispositional and contextual moderators modulate its experience. Functional neuroimaging studies document a circuit that responds to the perception of others' distress. Activation of this circuit reflects an aversive response in the observer, and this information may act as a trigger to inhibit aggression or prompt motivation to help. Moreover, empathy in humans is assisted by other domain-general high-level cognitive abilities, such as executive functions, mentalizing, and language, which expand the range of behaviors that can be driven by empathy.
Empathy has been inconsistently defined and inadequately measured. This research aimed to produce a new and rigorously developed questionnaire. Exploratory (n₁ = 640) and confirmatory (n₂ = 318) factor analyses were employed to develop the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE). Principal components analysis revealed 5 factors (31 items). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed this structure in an independent sample. The hypothesized 2-factor structure (cognitive and affective empathy) was tested and provided the best and most parsimonious fit to the data. Gender differences, convergent validity, and construct validity were examined. The QCAE is a valid tool for assessing cognitive and affective empathy.
Thesis--University of Texas at Austin. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-219).
The constructs of intelligence and ego-resiliency are discussed. The personality implications of "pure intelligence" and "pure ego-resilience" were identified. Intelligence (IQ) was indexed by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and ego-resiliency by an inventory scale. Residual scores measuring "pure intelligence" and "pure ego-resilience" were correlated with the items of the observer-based California Q-sort, used to describe participants. Persons relatively high on ego-resilience tend to be more competent and comfortable in the "fuzzier" interpersonal world; persons defined primary by raw IQ tend to be effective in the "clearer" world of structured work but tend also to be uneasy with affect and less able to realize satisfying human connections. Gender differences exist in the relations of ego-resilience and intelligence and in their adaptive relevance.
Resilience may be viewed as a measure of stress coping ability and, as such, could be an important target of treatment in anxiety, depression, and stress reactions. We describe a new rating scale to assess resilience. The Connor-Davidson Resilience scale (CD-RISC) comprises of 25 items, each rated on a 5-point scale (0-4), with higher scores reflecting greater resilience. The scale was administered to subjects in the following groups: community sample, primary care outpatients, general psychiatric outpatients, clinical trial of generalized anxiety disorder, and two clinical trials of PTSD. The reliability, validity, and factor analytic structure of the scale were evaluated, and reference scores for study samples were calculated. Sensitivity to treatment effects was examined in subjects from the PTSD clinical trials. The scale demonstrated good psychometric properties and factor analysis yielded five factors. A repeated measures ANOVA showed that an increase in CD-RISC score was associated with greater improvement during treatment. Improvement in CD-RISC score was noted in proportion to overall clinical global improvement, with greatest increase noted in subjects with the highest global improvement and deterioration in CD-RISC score in those with minimal or no global improvement. The CD-RISC has sound psychometric properties and distinguishes between those with greater and lesser resilience. The scale demonstrates that resilience is modifiable and can improve with treatment, with greater improvement corresponding to higher levels of global improvement.
Theory indicates that resilient individuals "bounce back" from stressful experiences quickly and effectively. Few studies, however, have provided empirical evidence for this theory. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (B. L. Fredrickson, 1998, 2001) is used as a framework for understanding psychological resilience. The authors used a multimethod approach in 3 studies to predict that resilient people use positive emotions to rebound from, and find positive meaning in, stressful encounters. Mediational analyses revealed that the experience of positive emotions contributed, in part, to participants' abilities to achieve efficient emotion regulation, demonstrated by accelerated cardiovascular recovery from negative emotional arousal (Studies 1 and 2) and by finding positive meaning in negative circumstances (Study 3). Implications for research on resilience and positive emotions are discussed.
Empathy plays a key role in social understanding, but its empirical measurement has proved difficult. The Empathy Quotient (EQ) is a self-report scale designed to do just that. This series of four studies examined the reliability and validity of the EQ and determined its factor structure.
In Study 1, 53 people completed the EQ, Social Desirability Scale (SDS) and a non-verbal mental state inference test, the Eyes Task. In Study 2, a principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted on data from 110 healthy individuals and 62 people reporting depersonalisation (DPD). Approximately 1 year later, Study 3, involved the re-administration of the EQ (n = 24) along with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; n = 28). In the last study, the EQ scores of those with DPD, a condition that includes a subjective lack of empathy, were examined in depth.
An association was found between the Eyes task and EQ, and only three EQ items correlated with the SDS. PCA revealed three factors: (1) 'cognitive empathy'; (2) 'emotional reactivity', and (3) 'social skills'. Test-retest reliability was good and moderate associations were found between the EQ and IRI subscales, suggesting concurrent validity. People with DPD did not show a global empathy deficit, but reported less social competence.
The EQ is a valid, reliable scale and the different subscales may have clinical applications.
The objectives of this research were: 1) to determine whether there were differences in empathy according to gender; 2) to analyze the relationships between empathy and social behaviour, self-concept, emotional stability, social interaction strategies, capacity to analyze emotions, intelligence, and creativity; and 3) to identify predicting variables of empathy. The sample consisted of 139 participants aged 10 to 12 years. ANOVA results showed gender differences in empathy, with significantly higher scores in females. Pearson coefficients suggest that participants with high empathy showed many positive social behaviours (prosocial, assertive, consideration, self-control, leadership), few negative social behaviors (passive, aggressive, antisocial, withdrawal) and many assertive strategies of social interaction; that they were named as prosocial classmates; and that they had high self-concept, high capacity to analyze negative emotions, high emotional stability and many behaviors and traits of creative personality. Multiple regression analyses permitted identification of the following predicting variables of empathy: high level of prosocial behaviour, low level of aggressive behaviour and high self-concept.
This paper summarizes the four articles in the Social Development quartet focused on positive affect regulation in youth. Each article in the quartet shows that parents’ socialization of youth positive affect (e.g., encouraging, enhancing, savoring, or dampening responses) is associated with youth positive affect regulation and depressive symptoms. Further, three of the studies provide novel evidence for an indirect relationship whereby parental socialization predicts youth depressive symptoms through youth positive affect regulation. The studies include samples of youth across mid‐childhood and adolescence (7‐ to 18‐year‐olds) from three countries (the United States, Belgium, and India), and utilize several methods of assessing youth positive affect regulation or parental socialization (parent‐report surveys, youth‐reported surveys, coded parent‐child discussions). This integrative paper also identifies several ways in which the study of youth positive affect regulation can be advanced. We address the conceptualization of positive affect regulation and the socialization of children's positive affect, constraints on the adaptiveness of upregulating positive emotions, methodological directions, potential moderated effects based on child characteristics such as sex or temperament, and the importance of studying outcomes beyond depression.
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In the ecological systems perspective, gender ideologies are part of the macrosystem that shapes human development. A growing literature indicates that youth accommodate and resist such ideologies, with adherence to masculinity norms being linked with negative adjustment. Most masculinity research focuses on boys’ adherence to masculinity, but girls are also pressured to uphold masculinity norms. Using mixed modeling, we examined girls’ adherence to masculinity and psychological (self‐esteem, depressive symptoms) and social (peer support and conflict) well‐being in the United States (N = 407; Mage = 12.28) and China (N = 356; Mage = 12.41). In both countries, adherence to masculinity was negatively associated with psychosocial well‐being. Chinese girls reported greater masculinity adherence, but associations with psychosocial well‐being were not moderated by nationality.
Extrapolating from B. L. Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, the authors hypothesized that positive emotions are active ingredients within trait resilience. U.S. college students (18 men and 28 women) were tested in early 2001 and again in the weeks following the September 11th terrorist attacks. Mediational analyses showed that positive emotions experienced in the wake of the attacks - gratitude, interest, love, and so forth - fully accounted for the relations between (a) precrisis resilience and later development of depressive symptoms and (b) precrisis resilience and postcrisis growth in psychological resources. Findings suggest that positive emotions in the aftermath of crises buffer resilient people against depression and fuel thriving, consistent with the broaden-and-build theory. Discussion touches on implications for coping.
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.
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.
Empirical explorations of moral virtues have increased dramatically recently. This paper introduces a new method of assessing moral virtue using gratitude as an example; a virtue that continues to be a topic of great interest in psychology, philosophy and education. We argue, and demonstrate empirically, that to comprehensively examine a moral virtue, it is necessary to explore its cognitive, affective, attitudinal (including motivational), and behavioural aspects. We have created the ‘Multi-Component Gratitude Measure’ (MCGM) comprised of four components, each designed to assess a distinct dimension of the virtue of gratitude: (a) conceptions (or understandings) of gratitude; (b) grateful emotions; (c) attitudes towards gratitude; and (d) gratitude-related behaviours. In contrast to existing measures, the MCGM aims to comprehensively examine the major components that constitute this complex moral construct. In two studies we illustrate the value of assessing these four components of gratitude and how individuals can differ in the number and ‘type’ of components they exemplify. Importantly, we demonstrate how well-being increases linearly with the number of components a person possesses, as measured by three distinct measures of well-being. We discuss individual differences in gratitude experience and what this means for personal flourishing as well as future measurement of moral constructs.
IntroductionPersonality and the Stress Experience: MechanismsTraits, Goals, and Motives: What is Stressful for Whom?Vulnerable vs. Resilient PersonsCopingFinal CommentsReferences
This research aims at verifying if there is a resilience profile that is more distinctive for male or female gender. Resilience, the ability to overcome obstacles, comprehends seven factors: emotion regulation, impulse control, optimism, environment analysis, auto-efficiency, and reaching out to people. We have assumed the hypothesis that individuals use facing strategies that are partially different, according to their gender. The research was carried out with 27 adolescents (male and female), from 14 to 17 years old, in Sao Bernardo do Campo – SP, who have answered the Resilience Rate Questionnaire: Reivich – Shatte/Barbosa. This questionnaire includes 56 items that evaluate the seven main resilience factors, and sociodemografic profile. The results show that both genders are similar for the optimism, and impulse control factors, but are significantly different when related to the auto-efficiency, and reaching out to people factors. We can conclude that some resilience aspects do not depend on the gender, but, in part, people choose strategies to face and overcome obstacles according to their gender characteristics.
Though interest in the emotion of gratitude has historically focused on its role in social exchange, new evidence suggests a different and more important role for gratitude in social life. The find-remind-and-bind theory of gratitude posits that the positive emotion of gratitude serves the evolutionary function of strengthening a relationship with a responsive interaction partner (Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008). The current article identifies prior, economic models of gratitude, elaborates on unique features of the find-remind-and-bind theory, reviews the accumulating evidence for gratitude in social life in light of this novel perspective, and discusses how the find-remind-and-bind theory is relevant to methodology and hypothesis testing. In sum, within the context of reciprocally-altruistic relationships, gratitude signals communal relationship norms and may be an evolved mechanism to fuel upward spirals of mutually responsive behaviors between recipient and benefactor. In this way, gratitude is important for forming and maintaining the most important relationships of our lives, those with the people we interact with every day.
Gratitude and indebtedness are differently valenced emotional responses to benefits provided, which have implications for interpersonal processes. Drawing on a social functional model of emotions, we tested the roles of gratitude and indebtedness in romantic relationships with a daily-experience sampling of both members of cohabiting couples. As hypothesized, the receipt of thoughtful benefits predicted both gratitude and indebtedness. Men had more mixed emotional responses to benefit receipt than women. However, for both men and women, gratitude from interactions predicted increases in relationship connection and satisfaction the following day, for both recipient and benefactor. Although indebtedness may maintain external signals of relationship engagement, gratitude had uniquely predictive power in relationship promotion, perhaps acting as a booster shot for the relationship.
The purpose of this studywas to see if feeling grateful to God reduces the deleterious effects of stress on health in late life. In addition, an effort was made to test for gender differences in this process. Three main findings emerged from the analysis of data provided by a nationwide sample of older adults. First, the data suggest that olderwomen are more likely to feel grateful to God than older men. Second, the results revealed that the effects of stress (e.g., living in a deteriorated neighborhood) on health are reduced for older people who feel more grateful to God. Finally, the analyses indicated that the potentially important stress-buffering properties of gratitude toward God emerge primarily among older women but not older men.
Resilience is the capacity to respond to stress in a healthy way such that goals are achieved at minimal psychological and physical cost; resilient individuals "bounce back" after challenges while also growing stronger. Resilience is a key to enhancing quality of care, quality of caring, and sustainability of the health care workforce. Yet, ways of identifying and promoting resilience have been elusive. Resilience depends on individual, community, and institutional factors. The study by Zwack and Schweitzer in this issue of Academic Medicine illustrates that individual factors of resilience include the capacity for mindfulness, self-monitoring, limit setting, and attitudes that promote constructive and healthy engagement with (rather than withdrawal from) the often-difficult challenges at work. Cultivating these specific skills, habits, and attitudes that promote resilience is possible for medical students and practicing clinicians alike. Resilience-promoting programs should also strive to build community among clinicians and other members of the health care workforce. Just as patient safety is the responsibility of communities of practice, so is clinician well-being and support. Finally, it is in the self-interest of health care institutions to support the efforts of all members of the health care workforce to enhance their capacity for resilience; it will increase quality of care while reducing errors, burnout, and attrition. Successful organizations outside of medicine offer insight about institutional structures and values that promote individual and collective resilience. This commentary proposes methods for enhancing individuals' resilience while building community, as well as directions for future interventions, research, and institutional involvement.
Ego-control refers to the inhibition/expression of impulse and ego-resiliency (ER) to the dynamic capacity to contextually modify one’s level of ego-control in response to situational affordances (
[3] and [8]; Block, J.H., 1951; Block & Block, 1980). This article investigates the generalization of brief under control (UC) and ER self-report scales across samples, measurement techniques, and data sources, utilizing personality descriptions provided by acquaintances, clinician-interviewers, and the self. Undercontrolled individuals were consistently described as self-dramatizing, unable to delay gratification, unpredictable, assertive, rebellious, moody, and self-indulgent. Overcontrolled individuals were consistently described as bland, consistent, dependable, and calm. Resilient individuals were described as having wide interests and a high aspiration level, assertive, socially poised and skilled, and cheerful; and not self-defeating, emotionally bland, nor lacking personal meaning in life. The definitive characteristics of both constructs were mostly consistent across data source, gender, and ethnicity, although ego-resiliency conformed more reliably with theoretical expectations among females than males, while ego-undercontrol may have more negative implications among Caucasians than other ethnic groups. Overall, the UC and ER self-report scales appear to offer effective, efficient, and accessible means for investigating these constructs.
We analyzed the content of school-aged children's responses to a countywide in-class essay assignment in which they described what they are thankful for. Accounts were written in November of 2000 (n = 152) and 2001 (n = 196). We identified the most prominent themes of children's gratitude as well as differences in the themes that emerged before and after the September 11 terrorist attacks. We also examined sex and developmental differences in the gratitude themes. The most common themes were family, basic needs, friends, and teachers/school. Rescue workers, the United States and its values (e.g., freedom) appeared more frequently in 2001 than 2000. Girls expressed more gratitude than boys for a variety of interpersonal relationships; boys were more grateful for material objects. Older children mentioned several themes more frequently than younger children. Implications are discussed in the context of positive psychology.
Previous work suggests women might possess an advantage over men in experiencing and benefiting from gratitude. We examined whether women perceive and react to gratitude differently than men. In Study 1, women, compared with men, evaluated gratitude expression to be less complex, uncertain, conflicting, and more interesting and exciting. In Study 2, college students and older adults described and evaluated a recent episode when they received a gift. Women, compared with men, reported less burden and obligation and greater gratitude. Upon gift receipt, older men reported the least positive affect when their benefactors were men. In Studies 2 and 3, women endorsed higher trait gratitude compared with men. In Study 3, over 3 months, women with greater gratitude were more likely to satisfy needs to belong and feel autonomous; gratitude had the opposite effect in men. The willingness to openly express emotions partially mediated gender differences, and effects could not be attributed to global trait affect. Results demonstrated that men were less likely to feel and express gratitude, made more critical evaluations of gratitude, and derived fewer benefits. Implications for the study and therapeutic enhancement of gratitude are discussed.
Gratitude was examined among 154 students to identify benefits from its experience and expression. Students completed measures of subjective well-being, social support, prosocial behavior, and physical symptoms. Positive associations were found between gratitude and positive affect, global and domain specific life satisfaction, optimism, social support, and prosocial behavior; most relations remained even after controlling for positive affect. Gratitude demonstrated a negative relation with physical symptoms, but not with negative affect. Relational fulfillment mediated the relation between gratitude and physical symptoms. Gratitude demonstrated strong relations with the following positive affects: proud, hopeful, inspired, forgiving, and excited. The relation between gratitude and family support was moderated by gender, indicating that boys, compared with girls, appear to derive more social benefits from gratitude. Strengths, limitations, and implications are discussed.
In developing the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), 40 items measuring affective and cognitive empathy were administered to 363 adolescents in Year 10 (aged about 15). Factor analysis reduced this to a 20-item scale that was administered 1 year later to 357 different adolescents in Year 10 in the same schools. Confirmatory factor analysis verified the two-factor solution. Females scored higher than males on both affective and cognitive empathy. Empathy was positively correlated with intelligence (for females only), extraversion (cognitive empathy only) neuroticism (affective empathy only), agreeableness, conscientiousness (for males only), and openness. Empathy was positively related to parental supervision and socioeconomic status. Adolescents who would help victims of bullying had high empathy.
Extending B. L. Fredrickson's (1998) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and M. Losada's (1999) nonlinear dynamics model of team performance, the authors predict that a ratio of positive to negative affect at or above 2.9 will characterize individuals in flourishing mental health. Participants (N=188) completed an initial survey to identify flourishing mental health and then provided daily reports of experienced positive and negative emotions over 28 days. Results showed that the mean ratio of positive to negative affect was above 2.9 for individuals classified as flourishing and below that threshold for those not flourishing. Together with other evidence, these findings suggest that a set of general mathematical principles may describe the relations between positive affect and human flourishing.
Little information exists on the contribution of psychological strengths to well-being in persons with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Data from other populations suggest that gratitude, defined as the positive experience of thankfulness for being the recipient of personal benefits, may have salutary effects on everyday functioning. We investigated whether dispositional gratitude predicted daily hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in combat veterans with and without PTSD. We also examined associations between daily gratitude and daily well-being across time. Veterans with PTSD, compared to those without PTSD, exhibited significantly lower dispositional gratitude; no differences were found on daily gratitude. Dispositional gratitude predicted greater daily positive affect, percentage of pleasant days over the assessment period, daily intrinsically motivating activity, and daily self-esteem over and above effects attributable to PTSD severity and dispositional negative and positive affect in the PTSD group but not the non-PTSD group. Daily gratitude was uniquely associated with each dimension of daily well-being in both groups. Although preliminary, these results provide support for the further investigation of gratitude in trauma survivors.
Like all perception, social perception reflects evolutionary pressures. In encounters with conspecifics, social animals must determine, immediately, whether the "other" is friend or foe (i.e. intends good or ill) and, then, whether the "other" has the ability to enact those intentions. New data confirm these two universal dimensions of social cognition: warmth and competence. Promoting survival, these dimensions provide fundamental social structural answers about competition and status. People perceived as warm and competent elicit uniformly positive emotions and behavior, whereas those perceived as lacking warmth and competence elicit uniform negativity. People classified as high on one dimension and low on the other elicit predictable, ambivalent affective and behavioral reactions. These universal dimensions explain both interpersonal and intergroup social cognition.
The spectrum of gratitude experience
- J Elfers
- P Hlava
Elfers J., & Hlava P. (2016). The spectrum of gratitude experience. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41030
Prężność jako wyznacznik pozytywnych i negatywnych konsekwencji doświadczonej sytuacji traumatycznej
- N Ogińska-Bulik
- Z Juczyński
Ogińska-Bulik, N. Juczyński, Z. (2012). Prężność jako wyznacznik pozytywnych i negatywnych konsekwencji doświadczonej sytuacji traumatycznej, Polskie Forum Psychologiczne 2 (17),
395-410.
A cognitive model of psychological resilience
- S Parsons
- A.-W Kruijt
- E Fox
Parsons, S., Kruijt, A.-W., & Fox, E. (2016). A cognitive model of psychological resilience. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 7(3), 296-310.
https://doi.org/10.5127/jep.053415
Relações entre Empatia, Resiliência e Perdão
- V D Pinho
- E M O Falcone
Pinho, V. D., & Falcone, E. M.O. (2017). Relações entre Empatia, Resiliência e Perdão [Interpessoal Relations among Empathy, Resilience and
Interpersonal Forgiveness].
An upward spiral: Bidirectional associations between positive affect and positive aspects of close relationships across the life span
- M A Ramsey
- A L Gentzler
Ramsey, M. A., & Gentzler, A. L. (2015). An upward spiral: Bidirectional associations between positive affect and positive aspects of close relationships across the life span. Developmental Review, 36, 58-104.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2015.01.003