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The Effect of Gratitude on Well-being: Should We Prioritize Positivity or Meaning?

DOI:10.1007/s10902-021-00448-4
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Ofer Atad at Peres Academic Center
Ofer Atad
Pninit Russo-Netzer at Achva Academic College
Pninit Russo-Netzer
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The psychological research into gratitude has overwhelmingly focused on the benefits of higher levels of gratitude. However, recent research suggests that positive psychology interventions to enhance gratitude are not always suitable and the effectiveness of an intervention depends on psycho-contextual factors, personal characteristics, and boundary conditions. The current study aimed to explore and compare the effect of two possible boundary conditions (prioritizing positivity and prioritizing meaning) on well-being levels, following a gratitude intervention. Replicating and extending the findings of the seminal 2005 study by Seligman et al., the current study explored the complex dynamics of gratitude and well-being in a sample of 448 participants. This study’s results replicated Seligman et al.’s finding suggesting a significant increase in satisfaction with life following a gratitude intervention. However, this trend was not significant when eudaimonic well-being was used as the dependent variable. Further analysis revealed that the intervention was most beneficial for people who prioritized both meaning and positivity in their lives, whereas those with different prioritizing patterns enjoyed only short-term gains. In addition, those who prioritize neither positivity nor meaning in their lives did not benefit from the intervention. This suggests implications for practitioners, mental health providers and organizations as consciously integrating the prioritization of meaning and positivity into one’s daily routines along with various gratitude activities which are aligned with one’s values and interests may contribute to gratitude interventions’ efficacy.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Happiness Studies (2022) 23:1245–1265
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00448-4
1 3
RESEARCH PAPER
The Effect ofGratitude onWell‑being: Should We Prioritize
Positivity orMeaning?
OferI.Atad1 · PninitRusso‑Netzer2,3
Accepted: 26 August 2021 / Published online: 14 September 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2021
Abstract
The psychological research into gratitude has overwhelmingly focused on the benefits of
higher levels of gratitude. However, recent research suggests that positive psychology inter-
ventions to enhance gratitude are not always suitable and the effectiveness of an interven-
tion depends on psycho-contextual factors, personal characteristics, and boundary condi-
tions. The current study aimed to explore and compare the effect of two possible boundary
conditions (prioritizing positivity and prioritizing meaning) on well-being levels, follow-
ing a gratitude intervention. Replicating and extending the findings of the seminal 2005
study by Seligman etal., the current study explored the complex dynamics of gratitude and
well-being in a sample of 448 participants. This study’s results replicated Seligman etal.’s
finding suggesting a significant increase in satisfaction with life following a gratitude inter-
vention. However, this trend was not significant when eudaimonic well-being was used as
the dependent variable. Further analysis revealed that the intervention was most beneficial
for people who prioritized both meaning and positivity in their lives, whereas those with
different prioritizing patterns enjoyed only short-term gains. In addition, those who prior-
itize neither positivity nor meaning in their lives did not benefit from the intervention. This
suggests implications for practitioners, mental health providers and organizations as con-
sciously integrating the prioritization of meaning and positivity into one’s daily routines
along with various gratitude activities which are aligned with one’s values and interests
may contribute to gratitude interventions’ efficacy.
Keywords Gratitude· Satisfaction with life· Eudaimonic well-being· Prioritizing
meaning· Prioritizing positivity· Intervention
* Ofer I. Atad
ofer.atad@gmail.com
Pninit Russo-Netzer
pninit.russonetzer@gmail.com
1 School ofBusiness, Peres Academic Center, Rehovot, Israel
2 School ofAdvanced Studies, Achva Academic College, Arugot, Israel
3 Department ofCounseling andHuman Development, University ofHaifa, Haifa, Israel
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Eighteen articles were identified that evaluated the effects of gratitude interventions on life satisfaction (Table 2 outlines sample characteristics, design, and main findings for each study). [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] The samples consisted of high school students, college students, and adults, with representation from the United States, 45,46,48,50,52,57,59,60 Canada, 61 Brazil, 47 Hong Kong, 49 Israel, 53,58 Spain, 54 China, 55 Japan, 56 India, 44,51 and Malaysia. 62 Each of the studies included pre-post comparisons, and twelve also measured life satisfaction at a subsequent follow-up, ranging from 14 days 47 to 3 months 45,47 later. ...
... Eighteen articles were identified that evaluated the effects of gratitude interventions on life satisfaction (Table 2 outlines sample characteristics, design, and main findings for each study). [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] The samples consisted of high school students, college students, and adults, with representation from the United States, 45,46,48,50,52,57,59,60 Canada, 61 Brazil, 47 Hong Kong, 49 Israel, 53,58 Spain, 54 China, 55 Japan, 56 India, 44,51 and Malaysia. 62 Each of the studies included pre-post comparisons, and twelve also measured life satisfaction at a subsequent follow-up, ranging from 14 days 47 to 3 months 45,47 later. ...
... A further four studies used a grateful letter writing exercise, in which participants write a letter, usually once a week or over the course of a week, expressing their gratitude to a particular person and, in some cases, deliver and read the letter to the target person. 45,48,50,53 In one of these studies, 53 participants were also asked to hand-deliver these letters, before engaging in a reflection exercise. In one further study, conducted by Renshaw and Rock, 46 participants were not asked to write anything, but spent five minutes each day over the course of two weeks thinking about something they were grateful for. ...
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... The results of the present study also showed that there is a significant positive relationship between gratitude and psychological well-being. The results of this research are in line with the results of Portocarrero et al. [25] and Yildirim et al. [26], Atad and Russo-Netzer [58], and Farzadi et al. [59]. Explaining this finding, grateful people are happier, healthier, more lovable, better able to cope with stress, more humble, less narcissistic, more forgiving, and more spiritual [18]. ...
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