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Gratitude and forgiveness: Convergence and divergence on self-report and informant ratings
Abstract
Gratitude and forgiveness are theoretically linked character strengths that tend to be studied in isolation from other strengths. We examined gratitude and forgiveness in the same sample using self and confidant reports to better understand how strengths converge and diverge with personality factors, emotional vulnerabilities, and positive psychological processes. Data suggest that gratitude and forgiveness uniquely relate to personality factors, emotional vulnerabilities, and positive psychological processes with forgiveness evidencing stronger relations than gratitude. Forgiveness also appears to be more robust than gratitude due to the unique effects of forgiveness diminishing correlations between gratitude and other variables. Confidant data demonstrated that strengths were observable by others and related to observer perceptions of well-being. Results are discussed with an emphasis on the benefits of studying character strength profiles.
... Having the feeling of gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions for individuals and is an emotion that neutralizes negativity in such as jealousy, envy, ambition, hostility, anxiety and anger (Kardaş & Yalçın, 2018). Gratitude and forgiveness are conceptually associated with psychological and physical health (Breen et al., 2010). Researches showed that as the level of gratitude increases, anger, loneliness and depressive symptoms decrease (Breen et al., 2010;Wu et al., 2018). ...
... Gratitude and forgiveness are conceptually associated with psychological and physical health (Breen et al., 2010). Researches showed that as the level of gratitude increases, anger, loneliness and depressive symptoms decrease (Breen et al., 2010;Wu et al., 2018). ...
... Accordingly, it can be said that gratitude contributes to the ability of forgiveness to transform negative emotions into positive emotions. There are studies reporting that gratitude is an important determinant of forgiveness (Breen et al., 2010;McCullough et al., 2002;Neto, 2007). On the other hand, there are opinions that both forgiveness and gratitude interventions can be beneficial to counselees as an intervention method, as well as emphasizing first gratitude then forgiveness can be more beneficial in the intervention (Toussaint & Friedman, 2009). ...
The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution of anger, gratitude and psychological well-being in predicting forgiveness. The study group consists of 221 adult (62% female and 38% male). Anger-Anger Style Scale, Gratitude Scale, Psychological Well-Being Scale and Heartland Forgiveness Scale were used as data collection tools. In analyzing the data obtained, Pearson moments correlation analysis and regression analysis were used. Research findings showed that there was a negative relationship between trait anger, anger-in sub-dimensions and forgiveness; there were positive relationships between the anger control sub-dimension, gratitude, psychological well- being and forgiveness. It has been determined that the common effects of these variables explain 42% of the variance of adults for forgiveness. In the light of the findings obtained from the research, suggestions for future research are presented.
... 34). Breen et al. (2010) and McCullough et al. (2002) did important research on gratitude as a dispositional characteristic that could be connected to subjective well-being effect and had a positive correlation with life satisfaction, optimism, hopefulness, and vitality. According to Breen et al. (2010), gratitude shows negative association with anxiety, stress, and depression. ...
... Breen et al. (2010) and McCullough et al. (2002) did important research on gratitude as a dispositional characteristic that could be connected to subjective well-being effect and had a positive correlation with life satisfaction, optimism, hopefulness, and vitality. According to Breen et al. (2010), gratitude shows negative association with anxiety, stress, and depression. Breen et This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. ...
... This mediating effect means that a higher level of self-compassion will lead to greater gratitude and accordingly improve participants' psychological well-being. Previous studies have found that self-compassion and gratitude were significantly positively correlated, and people with a higher level of self-compassion would show a higher level of gratitude also (Breen et al., 2010;Lurdes & Latipun 2019). ...
COVID-19 has become an epidemic affecting all aspects of human life. Vietnam is now encountering the COVID-19 second wave, which puts the mental health of Vietnamese people at risk. Due to the adverse psychological effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic on human psychological well-being in these challenging times, the aims of this study are to examine the relationship between self-compassion and psychological well-being and the role of gratitude and COVID-19 stress as a multi-mediators model in a cross-sectional study. Participants include 509 Vietnamese adults (Mage = 31.71; SD = 7.28 years) recruited through an online survey. A 26-item Self-Compassion Scale was used to measure self-compassion, gratitude was measured by the 6-item Gratitude in the COVID-19, psychological well-being was measured by the World Health Organization Well-Being Index, and the COVID-19 Stress Scale was used to measure stress and fears symptoms caused by the pandemic. The results support 3 main findings: (a) self-compassion has a direct influence on the psychological well-being (effect = 0.50, p < .001, 95% confidence interval [CI; 0.43, 0.57]), (b) the mediating role of gratitude in this model was significant (effect = 0.07, 95% CI [0.04, 0.10]), and (c) the mediating role of COVID-19 stress and fears in this model was also significant (effect = 0.02, 95% CI [0.01, 0.04]). The study’s results also show that increasing self-compassion and gratitude could help to improve psychological well-being and reduce the influence of COVID-19 stress and fears on the individuals’ mental health.
... Furthermore, more empathic older adults may detect and report receiving more support regardless of the type of support. Research suggests that more empathic older adults show greater gratitude, possibly due to their stronger sensitivity and recognition of others' kindness (Breen, Kashdan, Lenser, & Fincham, 2010). Such gratitude from more empathic older adults may also encourage their social partners to help more in general. ...
... For example, older adults' disabilities may increase their acceptance of receiving support, such that disabled older adults report fewer depressive symptoms and less negative mood than nondisabled older adults when receiving support (Djundeva et al., 2015;Huo, Graham, Kim, Zarit, & Fingerman, 2018). Likewise, compared to less empathic older adults, more empathic older adults may detect their social partners' altruistic intentions more accurately and more easily accept the support they receive from these partners (Breen et al., 2010;Ickes & Hodges, 2013). In addition, scholars have used lack of reciprocity to explain the negative consequences of receiving support (Gleason, Iida, Bolger, & Shrout, 2003;Gleason et al., 2008). ...
... Support exchanges involve two parties and it is important to examine the social partner's empathy. For example, older adults may receive greater appreciation when helping a more empathic social partner than a less empathic partner (Booker & Dunsmore, 2016;Breen et al., 2010). When providing support to a less empathic partner with less gratitude, more empathic older adults may also find it more acceptable and less irritating. ...
Older adults’ empathy may shape the frequency and types of support that they exchange with their social partners as well as the implications of these exchanges. This study drew on the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study, which included adults aged 65 and over and tracked them across 5–6 days using mobile phone surveys. Participants (n = 293) rated their empathy and reported their daily support exchanges (e.g., emotional support, instrumental support, advice) as well as mood. Findings showed that more empathic older adults provided each type of support more often. They also received more emotional support than less empathic older adults. Moreover, older adults’ empathy moderated the associations between providing support and their daily mood. More empathic older adults maintained their mood regardless of whether they provided support. By contrast, less empathic older adults reported reduced positive mood on days when they provided emotional support and increased positive mood when they provided instrumental support. Greater empathy is associated with more frequent support exchanges; however, more empathic older adults appear immune to such exchanges in terms of their mood. Interestingly, less empathic older adults may find providing emotional support draining but instrumental support rewarding, probably because they are less equipped to cope with others’ emotions.
... By practising gratitude, one could enhance one's willingness to forgive by changing bitter feelings towards others into more positive and healing emotions (Neto, 2007). In fact, gratitude and forgiveness seem to share a common, fundamental element of empathy and the ability to abandon angry feelings after being hurt by others (Breen et al., 2010;McCullough et al., 2002). That is why they can be both perceived as pro-social empathy-based personal strengths connected with psychological and physical health. ...
... According to existing studies, grateful people are less likely to experience loneliness, anxiety, envy, depression (Breen et al., 2010;Brown, 2003) or anger when being hurt by others (McCullough et al., 2002). Growing evidence shows that gratitude plays a significant role in enhancing positive appraisal of life (Elosua, 2015;Emmons & Crumpler, 2000), prosocial behaviour (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006), social support (Lin, 2015), physical health (Jans-Beken et al., 2019), psychological well-being Lin & Yeh, 2014), happiness and other preferable life outcomes (Emmons et al., 2019). ...
... The studies also show that gratitude is not reducible to a simple linear combination of the Big Five (Breen et al., 2010). According to McCullough et al. (2002), the Big Five domains might explain between 21% and 28% of the variance in gratitude. ...
A growing number of studies show how gratitude can have a positive and significant impact on our physical and mental health. It is also known that implementing gratitude activities in daily life may play a role as a self-help tool to lower the level of psychological distress, enhance one’s satisfaction with life and strengthen social bonds. The purpose of this review is to take a closer look at existing definitions of gratitude, its measures, interventions and research as well as provide future directions in gratitude studies.
KEYWORDS: Gratitude, gratitude interventions, positive psychology, well-being
... These are important components of a meaningful life. Additionally, self-compassion is consistent with the feelings of autonomy, competence, dependency, and self-evaluation [33], suggesting that self-adaptation is related to the basic psychological needs raised by Ryan and Deci. Self-decomposition is an important tool for success in dealing with a variety of problems. ...
... Giving the positive psychological capacities, such as self-kindness, social competency, and mindfulness, people with the self-compassion characteristics rarely show severe reactions and negative automatic thoughts because self-compassion is associated with basic psychological needs [33]. Individuals with more self-compassion are more emotionally balanced and an important protective factor for PTSD [36] because self-compassion is a powerful source of coping with stressful situations and it has a direct relationship with basic psychological needs [24]. ...
Background: Self-compassion is a construct of mental health that facilitates acceptance and understanding without judgment of difficult mental conditions. It is also effective in creating positive emotions and improving mental well-being.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to review the concept of self-compassion in psychological health.
Materials and Methods: In this review study, the international and Persian databases, such as MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, SID, PubMed, and ProQuest were searched by “title search method”. Articles were surveyed without a time limit, using the keywords of “self-compassion” and “psychological health”. The articles containing inclusion criteria were separately selected, reviewed, and analyzed. To extract the data, the final articles included in the process of the study were extracted based on a premade checklist.
Results: Out of 54 articles, 48 were excluded because of ignoring the relationship between the “self-compassion” and “psychological health”, as well as lacking a tool for controlling the psychological health and repetitiveness. Finally, 6 articles with the mentioned features were included in the study. Most review studies have shown that self-compassion increases psychological health and promotes well-being.
Conclusion: As a positive construct, self-compassion includes self-kindness, social relationships, and mindfulness, and it is effective in promoting psychological health.
... For a significant mediating relationship, three conditions should be met: (1) The independent variable should predict the mediator variable, (2) The independent variable should predict the dependent variable, and (3) The effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable should diminish or disappear when both the dependent and mediator variable are predicting the dependent variable (Baron and Kenny 1986). When considered the relationship between gratitude and forgiveness, these two variables are addressed as positive personality characteristics (Breen et al. 2010) and the literature showed their relationships (Neto 2007;Toussaint and Friedman 2009). ...
... The literature has documented a positive association between gratitude and forgiveness (i.e. Breen et al. 2010;Neto 2007;Toussaint and Friedman 2009). However, the literature mostly focused on the effects of rumination on forgiveness (i.e. ...
Rumination can cause to negative mood by blocking a person occupying entertaining actions. Therefore, rumination can be a potential threat to the quality of life and mental health. However, forgiveness and gratitude are defined as positive personality characteristics and can serve to combat rumination. Thus, this study with 417 undergraduate students aimed to examine the effects of gratitude and forgiveness on rumination. This study also investigated the mediating role of forgiveness on the association between gratitude and rumination. In addition, the purpose of this study included exploring the mediating roles of forgiveness of self and situation on the relationship between forgiveness of others and rumination. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects of gratitude and forgiveness on rumination. In addition, bootstrapping methods were employed to test the mediational effects. Results showed that forgiveness fully mediated the relationship between gratitude and rumination. Specifically, participants with higher levels of gratitude reported higher levels of forgiveness, which in turn lower levels of rumination. In addition, it was found that forgiveness of others and forgiveness of self fully mediated the association between forgiveness of others and rumination. The results along with implications were discussed.
... These are interpersonal strengths that generate psychological health through a consolidation of positive emotions, reflections, and adaptive social behaviors and relationships that facilitate well-being. Therefore, gratitude and forgiveness, studied as character strengths, separately from strengths, are a main focus for the psychologists (Breen, Kashdan, Lenser, & Fincham, 2010). ...
... Where gratitude ensures mental health by promising higher levels of positive emotions and optimism, Forgiveness ensures inner peace (Breen et al., 2010). The significance of forgiveness has been a topic of discussion in various disciplines such as theology, philosophy, and psychology. ...
The present study was aimed to explore the impact of gratitude and forgiveness in predicting subjective well-being in young adults. The sample for the study included 300 participants between the ages of 18 and 24 years who were conveniently selected from a university in Karachi city. Gratitude Questionnaire (McCullough et al., 2002), Heartland Forgiveness Scale (Thompson et al., 2005) and Flourishing Scale (Diener et al., 2010) were used as the measures to collect data. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed gratitude to be nonsignificant predictor of subjective well-being, whereas, forgiveness was found to be a significant predictor of subjective well-being . Further, weak positive relation of gratitude with subjective well-being (r = .14), and forgiveness with subjective well-being (r = .34) has been found. However, the explanatory power of this model was revealed to be significant (R2 = .12), suggesting that the variables share an important association which needs further extensive study. This study implies that forgiveness and gratitude may be effectively used in psychotherapy and substantially integrated in general counselling for young adult clients.
... Another important thing that needs to be taken into consideration is whether gratitude plays a mediation role on the pathway from self-compassion to mindful parenting? The study by Breen et al. (2010) showed that self-compassion and gratitude are positively correlated. A recent study by (Lurdes & Latipun, 2019) also supports this finding. ...
... This mediating effect means that a higher level of self-compassion will lead to greater gratitude and accordingly improve mindful parenting. The results of this study are consistent with previous findings that self-compassion has a positive effect on gratitude (Breen et al., 2010). That is, those who have a higher level of selfcompassion would show a higher level of gratitude (Lurdes & Latipun, 2019). ...
Mindful parenting, a concept that has been coined and examined recently, refers to a parent’s ability to bring complete attention to their children in the present moment. The aims of this study are to examine the relationship between self-compassion and mindful parenting and the role of gratitude as a mediating variable in a cross-sectional study. Participants include 522 Vietnamese mothers ( M age = 35.17; SD = 5.56) randomly selected through an online investigation. A 26-item Self-Compassion Scale was used to measure self-compassion, gratitude was measured by the Gratitude Questionnaire Six-Item Form, and mindful parenting was measured by the Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting Scale. The results support two main findings: (a) self-compassion has a direct influence on mindful parenting (effect = 2.48, p < .001, 95% CI [1.75, 3.22]), and (b) the mediating role of gratitude in this model was significant (effect = 0.37, 95% CI [0.10, 0.70]). The study’s results also show that increasing self-compassion and gratitude can help to improve mindful parenting.
... McCullough and colleagues 11 found a positive correlation between both variables. In contrast, Watkins et al 29 and Breen et al 35 reported a lack of correlation between openness and gratitude. Conscientiousness involves, apart from other important features, the propensity to pursue socially recommended rules 36 and to consistently fulfil duties toward other people. ...
... Extraverted people may attribute received benefits in the benefactor's intentions with more confidence thus expressing their gratitude. Although in some other reports, openness to experience did not correlate with gratitude, 29,35 or was associated negatively, 30 our findings are in line with the results found by McCullough and colleagues, 11 and Wood. 14,27 Watkins 29 found a convincing explanation for this variety of results. ...
Background:
Among many possible variables that can be associated with gratitude, researchers list personality traits. Considering that these relationships are not always consistent, the first purpose of the present study was to verify how the Big Five factors connect to dispositional gratitude in a sample of Polish participants. The second purpose was to assess the unique contribution of personality traits on gratitude with multiple regression analyses. Moreover, because much remains to be learned about whether these associations are indirectly influenced by different personal or social variables, the third goal was to explore the role of emotional intelligence as a potential mediational mechanism implicated in the relationship between personality traits and gratitude.
Participants methods and data collection:
The sample consisted of 712 Polish respondents who were aged between 17 and 88. Most of them were women (64.3%). They answered questionnaires concerning their personality traits, emotional intelligence, and gratitude. The research was conducted using the paper-and-pencil method through convenience sampling.
Results:
The results showed that both gratitude and emotional intelligence correlated positively and significantly with extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Gratitude and emotional intelligence correlated negatively and significantly with neuroticism. The personality predictor of gratitude with the highest and positive standardized regression value was agreeableness, followed by openness to experience and extraversion. Neuroticism had a negative impact on gratitude. Conscientiousness was the only statistically insignificant predictor in the tested multiple regression model. Moreover, emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between four dimensions of personality (extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and gratitude and acted as a suppressor between neuroticism and gratitude.
Conclusion:
The current study broadens our comprehension of the interaction among personality traits, emotional intelligence, and a grateful disposition. Moreover, it imparts a noteworthy foundation not only for the mediatory role of emotional intelligence between four dimensions of personality and gratitude but also for its suppressor effect between neuroticism and being grateful.
... Igualmente, las fortalezas del carácter intelectuales, interpersonales, emocionales y de restricción se han asociado a resiliencia (Martínez-Martí & Ruch, 2017). Finalmente, las personas con mayores niveles de clemencia y misericordia, y gratitud presentan mayor aceptación de experiencias negativas, empatía y autocompasión (Breen et al., 2010). ...
... A su vez, las fortalezas del carácter predijeron bajos síntomas depresivos, aunque el liderazgo predijo efectos opuestos (Gillham et al., 2011). Finalmente, las personas con mayores niveles de clemencia y misericordia, y gratitud presentaron menor ira, soledad y síntomas depresivos (Breen et al., 2010). Por su parte, las fortalezas interpersonales, de templanza y trascendencia se asociaron negativamente con síntomas psiquiátricos en población expuesta a violencia política, guerras y terrorismo (Shoshani & Slone, 2016). ...
Good character is a principal area in Positive Psychology. The current thesis assesses character strengths with mixed method: quantitative though factor analysis and qualitative using content analysis. Main purpose is evaluate and analyze the character strengths factors in participants from Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay to identify whether international findings are replicated; and verify replication in each country independently. A non probabilistic intentional sample was used: 854 university students (273 Ecuadorians, 277 Peruvians and 304 Paraguayan). Participants completed Inventario de Virtudes y Fortalezas del Carácter IVyF (Cosentino & Castro Solano, 2012) and Protocolo de Cualidades Positivas (Castro Solano & Cosentino, 2013). Main results show three character strengths factors: moderation, progress and fraternity. Secondly, this three factor model is the most parsimonious and replicable despite some differences. Finally, dimensional structure has intercultural differences because each countries have specific relations. Main conclusion show three factors of character strengths and intercultural differences in dimensional structure of each country. Data has limitations: used sample could not be an average citizen of each culture and countries were considered as national culture. Future studies should research intracultural differences in character strengths, identify causes of intercultural differences in each population and analyze character strengths in others Latin-American countries.
... Indeed, empathy is a central ability underlying a variety of prosocial behaviors that facilitate relationship formation and maintenance. For example, more empathic individuals are more likely to show gratitude toward others' kindness and forgive others' inappropriate behaviors (Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008;Breen et al., 2010;Giammarco & Vernon, 2014). Thus, more empathic older adults may have accumulated a greater number of social ties and also tend to establish new ties if they lose someone close in late life. ...
... Following equity/reciprocity theory (Gleason & Iida, 2015), these empathic older adults, who typically offer more help than less empathic older adults, may receive more support from their social partners in return. Moreover, more empathic older adults may be more aware of others' helping behaviors, which increases these older adults' gratitude and encourages more helping behaviors from their social partners (Algoe et al., 2008;Breen et al., 2010). Thus, we expected more empathic older adults to receive support from more of their social partners than less empathic older adults. ...
Objectives: Older adults with stronger social ties often lead longer, happier and healthier lives, but these ties may differ based on older adults’ ability to share and understand others’ emotions
(i.e., empathy). This study asked how empathy was associated with the way that older adults construct and engage in their social worlds.
Method: We drew on the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study to examine how older adults’ empathy was associated with the structure (e.g., network size, contact), function (e.g., support), and quality (e.g., affection, conflict) of their close social ties. Participants (N = 333) self-rated empathy and listed their social partners using three concentric convoy circles.
Results: Empathy was not associated with older adults’ social network structure, but more empathic older adults exchanged support with more social partners and reported greater affection for their social partners. We did not observe a significant link between older adults’ empathy and conflict with social partners.
Discussion: Examining empathy advances our understanding of individual differences in older adults’ close social ties. This study suggests that empathy may play a promising role with regard
to promoting older adults’ social experiences and strengthening their close ties.
... Gratitude as a dispositional trait has been consistently shown to be associated with subjective well-being affect (2). McCulliugh et al. (3) reported that gratitude had positive correlation with the level of life satisfaction, positive affect, optimism, hopefulness, as well as vitality. ...
... In contrast, gratitude was found to have negative association with anxiety, depression, and negative affect. In addition to subjective well-being and positive affect, gratitude is correlated with prosocial traits and behaviors such as empathic concern and perspective taking (2). ...
... Conversely, they argue that in the long-term, it is behavior and feelings towards transgressors that is most essential in preventing the ill-effects of unforgiveness on happiness. Breen, Kashdan, Lenser, and Fincham (2010) examined the roles of forgiveness and gratitude on several measures of well-being in a sample of 140 (113 female, 27 male) undergraduate psychology students recruited at a major university in the United States. ...
... Construct validity with criterion-related scales of both the GQ-5-G and the MCGM-G showed the expected correlations as already reported in previous studies (e.g., McCullough et al., 2002;Breen et al., 2010;Morgan et al., 2017). Overall, gratitude is associated with increased positive and lower negative outcomes. ...
The Gratitude Questionnaire-Six Item Form (GQ-6; McCullough et al., 2002) is a well-established instrument for measuring gratitude. Recently, the Multi-Component Gratitude Measure (MCGM) was developed as a more holistic approach (Morgan et al., 2017). While the GQ-6 mainly focuses on the emotional component of gratitude, the MCGM encompasses conceptual, attitudinal, and behavioral aspects. As of today, there is no validated German measure for gratitude. In order to close that research gap, the present study focused on validating the German versions of the GQ-6 (GQ-6-G) and of the MCGM (MCGM-G). In addition, multi-group comparisons were conducted to test for cultural measurement invariance. Construct validity was tested similar to original validation studies of the two scales focusing on affect, well-being, empathy, anxiety and depression. The online survey was completed in random order by 508 participants. The one-factor model of the GQ-6-G and the hierarchical structure of the MCGM-G could be replicated. However, the model fit of the Gratitude Questionnaire was significantly better after eliminating one item (GQ-5-G). Multi-group comparisons revealed cultural measurement invariance was established for the GQ-5-G and partial measurement invariance for five of six factors of the MCGM-G, respectively. Reliability analyses revealed good internal consistency for both instruments, and measures for criterion-related and discriminant validity have shown hypothesized relationships. Thus, the GQ-5-G and the MCGM-G are two instruments with good reliability and validity for measuring gratitude in Germany.
... Prior studies have also shown that gratitude has a positive impact on adolescent happiness, as it involves reflection, positive emotions, adaptive social behaviors, and relationships that facilitate well-being (Fredrickson, 2004;Watkins, 2004;Armenta et al., 2017). In fact, it has been reported that people with higher levels of gratitude experience less anger, feelings of loneliness, and fewer depressive symptoms (Breen et al., 2010;Wu et al., 2018;Rey et al., 2019). ...
The relationships among character strengths (forgiveness and gratitude), happiness, and prosocial bystander behavior in bullying were analyzed. The sample includes 500 (early adolescents) and 500 (middle adolescents) of both genders, between 12 and 18 years old (M age = 14.70, SD = 1.58). Two structural equation models were calculated. Results of the first model indicated that forgiveness, gratitude, and happiness had a direct positive relation with prosocial bystander behavior. Furthermore, human strengths were indirectly related to prosocial behavior in bullying for this effect in happiness. The second model showed that prosocial bystander behavior had a positive effect on human strengths and happiness. Multigroup analyses indicated that gender and stage of adolescence did not moderate the relations found in the model. Overall findings suggest a reciprocal relationship between character strengths, happiness, and prosocial bystander behavior.
... Gratitude conceptually linked as strengths of pro-social character (such as empathy), psychological and physical health (Breen, Kashdan, Lenser & Fincham, 2010). The research by Arya & Khandelwal (2014) shows that psychological interventions can enhance gratitude and happiness and both contribute positively to one's well-being. ...
Happiness is important for humans because happiness experienced by each is closely related to high self-compassion. Individuals who have a high understanding of the events they experience tend to feel happy. The relationship can be strengthened by gratitude. The purpose of this study was to find out the relationship between Self-compassion and happiness moderated by gratitude to students. The subject in this study was 316 students. Instrument research uses the Self-compassion Scale (SCS), The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) and the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ). The analysis of the data used the Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA). The results showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between self-compassion and happiness which was moderated by gratitude (β = .29 and p = .046), and self-compassion contribution with happiness was moderated by gratitude which was equal to 18.1%.
... Gratitude directed at someone or something is correlated with positive affect and increased emotional well-being (Fredrickson and Joiner, 2002). Furthermore, Breen et al. (2010) found that gratitude and forgiveness are linked to character strengths which in turn are related to positive psychological processes. Individuals with higher trait gratitude are also more likely to exhibit higher levels of self-esteem, optimism, agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and open-mindedness (Wood et al., 2008;Kong et al., 2015). ...
Gratitude enhances prosocial behavior and is considered a positive trait in most cultures, yet relatively little is known about its relationship to other psychological constructs, nor how it varies across diverse cultural contexts. To investigate the cross-cultural consistency of the benefits of having a grateful disposition, the current study examined the nomological network of gratitude in the United States and Japan, using data from two longitudinal studies: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher Biomarker Project) and Midlife in Japan (MIDJA). Results showed significant positive bivariate associations between trait gratitude and positive psychological functioning (Satisfaction with Life, Sympathy, Anger Control, Cognition Control, and Support/Affectual Solidarity Given to Relational Network) in both the United States and Japan. On the other hand, trait gratitude was negatively correlated with constructs associated with maladaptive psychological processes (Perceived Stress, Social Anxiety, Loneliness, and Anger-In) in both countries. The present findings provide valuable guidance for the development and implementation of future interventions that may lead to positive outcomes in individuals from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
... The intercorrelations of the character strengths suggest that they may interact dynamically with one another as opposed to asserting their influences individually (Breen et al., 2010). ...
A model on the role of character strengths in individual, collective, and species success is proffered. It is derived from viewing character strengths from a species perspective as opposed to one of individual differences/personality psychology. The history of the VIA initiative on character science is overviewed, and results to date are summarized in terms of promoting well-being, helping to accomplish aspirational intentions, and allowing the greater good of the collective to grow. “The character strengths response” is described as the response capacities that character strengths may enable for helping us fulfill the human promise of surviving, thriving, and successfully creating a next-generation so that individuals and the collective flourish while also living in harmonious balance with other species. An argument is presented that there is an urgent need for advancing population-wide psychological maturity to be better prepared to navigate the difficult decisions that accompany growing technological powers, and that the character strengths response warrants special attention of research funding to accomplish this imperative.
... The relation of gratitude with the Big Five/Five Factor framework of personality has been well documented. Among the Big Five, the grateful disposition is related most strongly to Agreeableness and Emotional Stability (Aghababaei & Tabik, 2013;Breen, Kashdan, Lenser, & Fincham, 2010;McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002;Neto, 2007;Wood, Joseph, & Maltby, 2008, 2009). However, we are not aware of any previous studies linking gratitude to the personality dimensions of HEXACO. ...
The relations of gratitude toward God and dispositional gratitude with well-being and personality were investigated, in an Iranian sample. As expected, gratitude was associated with higher scores on happiness, life satisfaction, psychological well-being, and the Big Five factors of personality. Dispositional gratitude out-predicted religious gratitude in relation with well-being. A second study confirmed the results in a second sample of Iranian Muslims, and in a sample of Polish Christians, providing cross-cultural evidence that the dispositional gratitude is a unique predictor of well-being. Positive links between gratitude and Honesty–Humility provided additional construct validity for these variables, as personality dimensions representing the bases of reciprocal altruism.
... Gratitude's implications for tendencies to perceive and respond to life's benefits and challenges make it complementary to multiple aspects of SWB (Watkins et al. 2003). Further, gratitude, which contributes to an appreciative outlook for life's benefits, has been linked with other constructs that involve constructive evaluations of life, such as self-compassion (Breen et al. 2010). Therefore, because gratitude is linked with both self-compassion and SWB, we found it important to account for gratitude as a covariate in our research, so that we might better address the unique influence of self-compassion on SWB. ...
Two studies considered the direct associations between self-compassion and areas of subjective well-being (SWB; experiences of affect, subjective happiness, life satisfaction), among incoming college students (N = 161) and college students across academic levels (N = 143). In each sample, self-compassion was correlated with each report of SWB, after controlling for demographics. Hierarchical regressions tested for direct ties of self-compassion with aspects of SWB beyond demographics, dispositional gratitude, and other areas of SWB. Results suggested that self-compassion was directly and uniquely tied to only subjective happiness across both samples. Lastly, we revisited each sample and explored multiple indirect effects between self-compassion and reports of SWB. We tested effects from self-compassion onto well-being via subjective happiness; a reversed model arrangement of effects from well-being onto self-compassion; and an alternative model that considered positive affect as an intervening variable rather than subjective happiness. Results suggested that the second arrangement of effects from SWB onto self-compassion via subjective happiness was best supported. Significant indirect effects of SWB to self-compassion through positive affect (Sample 2 only), negative affect, and life satisfaction were also supported. Findings reinforced ties between self-compassion and SWB, and suggest a particularly strong association between self-compassion and subjective happiness. This may be due to both constructs involving constructive forms of evaluating challenging experiences and the management of relatedness goals for maintaining reliable, positive ties with others.
... 4 This approach has been supported by empirical research demonstrating that interventions known to increase gratitude (such as keeping a gratitude journal or writing letters of thanks) also improve forgiveness, empathy and interpersonal connections more generally. 5 Some people might say that it is naive or dishonest to let these reasons influence our gratitude, but these are the values that I want at the heart of my teaching and my learning. ...
The author outlines two visions of gratitude, a ‘debtor paradigm’ and a relational model, arguing that the latter should inform the gratitude expressed between medical teachers and their students.
... Among the factors affecting life satisfaction, there is one factor related to forgiveness, that is gratitude. Forgiveness and gratitude is the power among individuals that help someone to generate positive emotion and help creating god relation to achieve well being (Breen, Kashdan, Lenser, & Fincham, 2010). If someone is hard to forgive, then they will feel difficult to feel grateful (Narula, 2015). ...
Life satisfaction is indicated by the success of resolving conflict and contributing to the society. Some factors that have an important role in life satisfaction are forgiveness and gratitude. This study aims to determine the effect of forgiveness on life satisfaction mediated by gratitude. This study was conducted on 50 students at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang. The forgiveness variable uses the HFS scale from Thomson, for the gratitude variable using the GQ-6 scale from McCullough, and for the life satisfaction variable using the SWLS scale developed by Diener. The data analysis used was a mediation regression test using the Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.00 and Hayes software. The results of this study indicate that the effect of forgiveness (X) on life satisfaction (Y) when passing gratitude (M) has a probability value of 0.000, which means that p <0.05, there is an effect of forgiveness on life satisfaction mediated by gratitude. Mediation that occurs is partial mediation. From the R 2 value it can be seen that forgiveness influences life satisfaction with the existence of a gratitude mediation of 41.1%.
... (Stone & McCrae, 2007 :153 ) . (Pareek & Jain, 2012) , أو )الوظيفى (الرضا مف كؿ اسات در فى (Lanham, et al., 2012, Waters,2012) , ( أو فقط الحياة عن الرضا مف كؿ اسات در فى فى كما ) ( Sastre et al. 2003, Wood et al., 2008a, , Breen, et al. 2010Froh, et al.,2011a, Fagley, 2012 مف كؿ اسات در نتائج مع متفقة " التسامح إلى (Neto, 2007, Chan, 2013, Satici, et al.,2014, Rey & Extremera, 2014 , Wood et al., 2009, Chen et al.,2009, Toussaint & Friedman ,2009, Chan, 2013, Macaskil & Denovan, 2014 Tse & , et al., 2001(Rye Pareek Breen, et al. 2010) Friedman & Yip, 2009, Toussaint & Jain, 2012, Chan, 2013, Macaskil & Denovan, 2014, Datu, 2014 ...
... Researchers have suggested that forgiveness reflected cognitive-affective transformation following a transgression in which the victim freely chooses not to take any revenge and makes a realistic assessment of the harm done [16]. Fincham and Kashdan argued that "at the center of various approaches to forgiveness is the idea of a freely chosen motivational transformation in which the desire to seek revenge and to avoid contact with the transgressor is lessened" [17]. Trait forgiveness involves a tendency to offer, feel, or seek changes from negative to positive cognitions, behaviours, and affect pertaining to offenders that include oneself, others, and God. ...
... Research by developmental psychologist, Kristin Neff, Ph.D., and others has demonstrated that people who have higher levels of self-compassion as a trait report feeling happier than those with lower levels (Hollis-Walker & Colosimo, 2011;Neff et al., 2007;Shapira & Mongrain, 2010;Smeets et al., 2014). People with high levels of self-compassion also display higher levels of optimism, gratitude, positive affect, emotional intelligence, wisdom, personal initiative, curiosity, intellectual flexibility, life satisfaction, and feelings of social connectedness according to researchers in this area (Neff, 2003;Breen et al., 2010;Neff et al., 2007;Heffernan, et al., 2010;Martin et al., 2011).Thus, there are many good things that come from practicing self-compassion! The best part of all of this is that even if you were not born with high levels of self-compassion, you can learn to do things to increase your self-compassion. ...
... Although forgiveness and gratitude can be measured at the state level and there is research to support this (Eaton et al., 2006;Wohl et al., 2008), we have chosen to use scales that measure trait forgiveness and gratitude to assess if there are more stable aspects of forgiveness. Empirical research provides evidence that trait forgiveness and gratitude may buffer against symptoms of depression and anxiety, promote optimism and hope, and increase self-esteem and life satisfaction (Bono & McCullough, 2006;Breen et al., 2010;McCullough, 2000;Toussaint & Friedman, 2009;Wood et al., 2010). Empirically-supported theory (Bono & McCullough, 2006;Toussaint & Friedman, 2009) has suggested that forgiveness and gratitude enhance well-being because they promote positive emotional states (e.g., love and peace) and cognitions (e.g., "I'm important", "I can cope"), and are prosocial responses to perceived helps and harms. ...
An abundance of research has investigated well-being as it relates to religiosity and character strengths, such as forgiveness and gratitude. However, few studies have investigated how increases in forgiveness and gratitude might explain why religious commitment enhances well-being, particularly for U.S. ethnic/racial minority populations. This study investigated if the character strengths of forgiveness and gratitude mediated the relationship between religious commitment and well-being among Latter-day Saint Polynesian Americans – a fast growing, yet understudied, population. Results indicated that forgiveness and gratitude fully mediated the relationship between religious commitment and self-esteem, and gratitude partially mediated the relationship between religious commitment and satisfaction with life. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
... Studies suggest that the strengths of temperance hinder aggression [45,46]. For example, findings have indicated that modesty [47][48][49][50], self-regulation [51][52][53][54], forgiveness [45,[55][56][57][58][59], and prudence [60] are associated with both proactive and reactive bullying. ...
Abstract: Recent research has shown the relevance of measuring the virtue of temperance. The present study tested a multidimensional and second-order structure scale to assess temperance using a sub-scale of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth (VIA-Youth). Scale properties were tested using data from a sample of 860 adolescents aged from 12 to 18 years old (M = 14.28 years, SD = 1.65). The sample was randomly split into two subsamples for model cross-validation. Using the first sample, we assessed scale dimensionality, measurement invariance, and discriminant and concurrent validity. A second sample was used for model cross-validation. Confirmatory factorial analysis confirmed the fit of one second-order factor temperance virtue model, with the dimensions of forgiveness, modesty, prudence, and self-control. The results indicate scale measurement equivalence across gender and stage of adolescence (early vs. middle). Latent means difference tests showed significant differences in forgiveness, modesty, and self-regulation by gender, and modesty according to adolescence stage. Moreover, the scale showed discriminant and concurrent validity. These findings indicate that this scale is helpful for assessing temperance in adolescents and suggest the value of temperance as a multidimensional and second-order construct.
... However, correspondence was highest (1) for life satisfaction and happiness, (2) among older participants, (3) in cases of multiple informants, and (4) when multiple items were used. More recent studies corroborate the utility of informant ratings for measuring hedonic wellbeing (e.g., Breen et al., 2010;Dobewall et al., 2013;Kim et al., 2012;Luhmann et al., 2016;Saeki et al., 2014;Zou et al., 2013). ...
What does it mean to be “well” and how might such a state be cultivated? When we speak of wellbeing, it is of ourselves and fellow humans. When it comes to nonhuman animals, consideration turns to welfare. My aim herein is to suggest that theoretical approaches to human wellbeing might be beneficially applied to consideration of animal welfare, and in so doing, introduce new lines of inquiry and practice. I will review current approaches to human wellbeing, adopting a triarchic structure that delineates hedonic wellbeing, eudaimonic wellbeing, and social wellbeing. For each, I present a conceptual definition and a review of how researchers have endeavored to measure the construct. Drawing these three domains of research together, I highlight how these traditionally anthropocentric lines of inquiry might be extended to the question of animal welfare – namely by considering hedonic welfare, eudaimonic welfare, and social welfare as potentially distinguishable and complementary components of the broader construct of animal welfare.
... A recent study by Lin [17] and Rey et al. [18] found people with good gratitude levels have fewer suicidal thoughts. According to Breen et al. [19] and Dewall et al. [20] gratitude have several important roles in life, the first is as an indicator of aggression where someone who has good gratitude tends to have low aggression, the second is an indicator of happiness. It can be explained that someone who is always grateful has a happier mood, and can create good quality friendships so that they can minimize the risk of becoming a victim of cyberbullying and increased resilience because they get support from peers [21]. ...
... Gratitude can reduce a person's negative emotions (Sheldon & Sonja, 2006). Meanwhile, according to Breen, Kashdan, Lenser, and Fincham (2010), gratitude can help individuals to avoid symptoms of depression. Research conducted by Emmons and McCullough (Putri, Sukarti, & Rachmawati, 2016) shows that gratitude is a way for someone to thank God. Gratitude can affect physical and psychological well-being. ...
At the stage of development, individuals will pass the adolescence stage to the adult stage. At that stage, the individual will be in the early adult phase, where the individual will focus on preparing for his future and evaluating his adolescence so that in adulthood individuals have a quality life. In a quality life, there is an element of religiosity, wherein a Muslim's life gratitude is one aspect of religiosity. The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between gratitude and quality of life in Muslims in early adulthood. The subjects in this study were 101 Muslims in early adulthood consisting of college students and working individuals. Data collection in this study uses a scale in the form of a questionnaire to reveal two variables, namely WHOQOL-BREF scale from WHO (World Health Organization) and then the scale of gratitude is a scale developed by Rusdi (2016). The results of data processing with Pearson Product Moment correlation on 101 subjects showed that quality of life and gratitude were positively correlated significantly (p <0.05) with p = 0.000 and the correlation coefficient of r = 0.450. The research had a limitation that the gratitude scale can only be applied to the subject of a Muslim because the measuring instrument used has a value that is trusted by Muslims and on this research only applied to subjects in a number of regions in Indonesia. It is hoped that this research can be a study of psychology, especially in the study of Islamic psychology.
... Second, data were collected with self-report questionnaires. Although the range of scores reported in the present study is appropriately broad and these questionnaires have been found to converge with assessments using other modalities (e.g., Breen et al., 2010;Kroenke et al., 2009;Osman et al., 2001;Schnitker, 2012), it is possible measurement was subject to social desirability biases. Future studies might employ multiple methods of assessment, such as textual analysis, behavioral observations, informant reports, or clinical ratings. ...
Objective:
Suicidal behavior is a leading cause of injury and death, so research identifying protective factors is essential. Research suggests gratitude and life hardships patience are character strengths that might protect against the deleterious association of struggles with ultimate meaning and suicide risk. However, no studies have evaluated their utility among people experiencing acute/severe mental health concerns.
Method:
We tested the protective function of gratitude and life hardships patience with cross-sectional data from adults (Mage = 31.83 years; SD = 14.84; range = 18-82) hospitalized in a Christian psychiatric inpatient facility (Mstay = 6.37 days, SD = 4.64).
Results:
Gratitude and life hardships patience moderated the positive relation between meaning struggles and suicide risk. Specifically, gratitude and life hardships patience protected against meaning struggles as a risk factor for suicide through mechanisms separate from ameliorating depressive symptoms.
Conclusions:
Findings provide initial support for gratitude and patience interventions as an adjunct to standard psychiatric treatment for minimizing suicide risk.
... That is, the capacity to spontaneously "put oneself in the shoes of others" may supply the mechanism for employees to better intuit the costs incurred by benefactors, contributing to their feelings of gratitude. Supporting this claim, prior studies link perspective taking to higher levels of gratitude (e.g., Breen et al., 2010;McCullough et al., 2002). In summary, mindfulness may provide precisely the shift in perspective-away from the self and toward benefactors (i.e., coworkers, supervisors, and the organization)-that allows employees to more fully consider the costs of benefits they receive at work. ...
Gratitude plays an integral role in promoting helping behavior at work. Thus, cultivating employees' experiences of gratitude represents an important imperative in modern organizations that rely on teamwork and collaboration to achieve organizational goals. Yet, today's workplace presents a complex array of demands that make it difficult for employees to fully attend to and appreciate the various benefits they receive at work. As such, gratitude is difficult for employers to promote and for employees to experience. Despite these observations, the role of attention and awareness in facilitating employees' feelings of gratitude is largely overlooked in the extant literature. In this study, we examined whether one notable form of present moment attention, mindfulness, may promote helping behavior by stimulating the positive, other-oriented emotion of gratitude. Across two experimental studies, a semiweekly, multisource diary study, and a 10-day experience sampling investigation, we found converging evidence for a serial mediation model in which state mindfulness, via positive affect and perspective taking, prompts greater levels of gratitude, prosocial motivation, and, in turn, helping behavior at work. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our investigation, as well as avenues for the future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... In the literature, forgiveness was observed to be a strong case explaining the mental health of individuals (Tucker et al., 2015).). Forgiveness was identified to reduce stress, anger, depression and state anxiety, contribute to relationship health like developing social support and marriage quality, and have a range of physical health benefits like lowering blood pressure and improving cardiovascular health (Berry & Worthington, 2001;Breen et al., 2010;Griffin et al., 2015;Tse & Yip, 2009;Worthington & Drinkard, 2000). Contrary to these findings, increased trait anger, trait anxiety and dissatisfaction with life (Macaskill, 2012) were identified as a result of an increased tendency to withhold forgiveness. ...
This study aimed to investigate the effect of training about noticing and expressing feelings on individual tendency to forgive. The experimental and control groups in the research comprised 34 students, 18 female and 16 male with ages from 19 to 23 years (M = 21.00, SD = .65), attending Bayburt University. Data collection tools included the Heartland Forgiveness Scale and the Personal Information Form prepared by the researchers. The research was completed in accordance with a random, pre-test-post-test control group experimental model. The one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was utilized for data analysis. The results showed that the training program about noticing and expressing feelings had a significant effect on individuals’ forgiveness. In addition, the mean of the forgiveness post-test scores for individuals enrolled in the training program were found to be higher than the post-test scores for individuals who did not participate.
... For example, victims with greater empathy are more likely to view the transgression from the perpetrator's perspective and show a greater willingness to forgive, a possibility strongly supported by a robust relationship between empathy and forgiveness (see Fehr et al., 2010). The ability to empathize when directed towards the self is also likely to increase self-forgiveness, a viewpoint supported by the documented relationship between selfcompassion and self-forgiveness (e.g., Breen et al., 2010). ...
Different types of forgiveness tend to be studied independently of each other. This study therefore investigated the interplay among divine forgiveness, self-forgiveness, and interpersonal forgiveness. Using two samples of 348 and 449 participants, we examined the relations among the three types of forgiveness and showed that they were positively correlated with each other. Divine forgiveness did not act as a third variable accounting for the relationship between self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness. However, divine forgiveness was shown to play a moderating role in the relationship between the two earthly types of forgiveness. Specifically, controlling for religiosity and impression management, divine forgiveness moderated their relationship in that self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness were more highly related to each other as levels of perceived divine forgiveness increased. The unique features of divine forgiveness that might account for its moderating role in the self-interpersonal forgiveness association are identified and avenues for further research are outlined.
... Therefore, even when individuals face difficult life circumstances, self-compassion can promote an objective perspective and the adoption of positive reframing strategy, which helps them to notice the bright sides of adverse experiences. In line with this reasoning, a few cross-sectional studies indicated that self-compassion was positively associated with dispositional gratitude (Breen et al. 2010;Neff et al. 2018). An interventional study also found that adolescents who completed a mindful self-compassion intervention showed an increase in gratitude (Bluth and Eisenlohr-Moul 2017). ...
Objectives
Self-compassion refers to a positive and healthy self-attitude in times of distress and life difficulties. Abundant research has shown that self-compassion robustly contributes to adolescents’ psychological well-being. Recent research has begun to discuss the interpersonal and social benefits of self-compassion. This study examined whether and how self-compassion would be longitudinally associated with two significant other-oriented constructs: gratitude and prosocial behavior.Methods
Using a three-wave longitudinal design, a large sample of Chinese adolescents (Time 3, N = 1026; Mage = 14.41, SDage = 0.59) was measured annually at three time points. We employed both a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) and a random intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to investigate the longitudinal associations between self-compassion, gratitude, and prosocial behavior at both between-person and within-person levels.ResultsBoth the CLPM and RI-CLPM suggested that self-compassion positively predicted gratitude and prosocial behavior over time. The CLPM indicated that gratitude and prosocial behavior were bidirectionally related to each other at the between-person level, while the RI-CLPM did not find a significant longitudinal association between them at the within-person level. Also at the between-person level, the CLPM further suggested that gratitude mediated the longitudinal relation between self-compassion and prosocial behavior, while prosocial behavior mediated the relationship between self-compassion and gratitude.Conclusions
This study enriches understanding of the adaptive functions of self-compassion for adolescents’ social development. Self-compassion is not selfish but rather enhances feelings of gratitude toward other people and promotes the development of prosocial behavior.
... For example, self-compassion has been suggested to promote resilience and community orientation (Akin & Akin, 2015;Tanaka et al., 2011), thriving positive emotions, socially desirable behaviours, acceptance and useful attributions (Barnard & Curry, 2011). Self-compassionate people use 'we' more frequently in place of 'I' and exhibit higher social references to friends, family, and other persons (Neff et al., 2007), higher levels of optimism, gratitude and positive affect (Breen et al., 2010;Neff et al., 2007), emotional intelligence, wisdom, personal initiative, curiosity, intellectual flexibility, and life satisfaction (Heffernan et al., 2010;Martin et al., 2011;Neff et al., 2008) and feelings of autonomy, competence, relatedness and self--determination (Magnus et al., 2010). These interpersonal benefits of self-compassion may be some important reasons behind its positive association with the interdependent happiness in the present study. ...
The study examined the relationships among some demographic factors, self-compassion and interdependent happiness of the married Hindu couples. Using a correlational research design, 600 participants (300 couples) were chosen by a snowball sampling. Self-compassion Scale (Neff, 2003b), Socioeconomic Status Scale (Aggarwal et al., 2005) and Interdependent Happiness Scale (Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015) were used to collect data. Findings revealed that some demographic factors such as age, years of marriage and number of family members were positively correlated with self-compassion while the number of children and socioeconomic status were negatively correlated with it. Age, years of marriage and the number of children had a positive relationship with interdependent happiness. Self-compassion evinced a significant positive correlation with the interdependent happiness of the couples. The nature of family and self-compassion accounted for significant variance in the scores of interdependent happiness of the couples. The study constitutes one of the limited studies which assessed the relationships among a set of demographic factors, self-compassion and interdependent happiness on a sample drawn from a collectivistic society. The results have been discussed in the light of extant theoretical and empirical findings of self-compassion and interdependent happiness. The findings may have significant implications for understanding positive life outcomes of people with self-compassion belonging to a collectivistic culture. The theory, practise and policy implications of the findings have been discussed. Directions for future research have also been provided along with some limitations of the study.
... It is understood as a life orientation toward perceiving and appreciating good things in one's life and the positive aspects of the world, even in difficult circumstances (Wood et al. 2008). Gratitude is often seen as being conceptually related to forgiveness (Breen et al. 2010). Indeed, both are prosocial and empathy-based virtues that enhance well-being and health by reinforcing the establishment and maintenance of long-lasting positive relationships with self, others, and God (McCullough et al. 2002;Wood et al. 2008). ...
The purpose of this study was to identify distinct profiles of persons beginning alcohol addiction therapy with similar baseline configurations of spiritual coping, forgiveness, and gratitude. The associations between latent profile membership and the completion of therapy were also examined. The sample was composed of 358 alcohol-dependent persons receiving an outpatient treatment program. The Spiritual Coping Questionnaire, the Forgiveness Scale, and the Gratitude Questionnaire were used to assess the baseline levels of spirituality-related variables. Using latent profile analysis, five profiles were identified: (1) both moderately positive and negative dimensions of spirituality (33.2%), (2) moderately positive dimensions of spir-ituality (21.0%), (3) predominantly negative dimensions of spirituality (20.2%), (4) mixed dimensions of spirituality with the lowest positive religious coping (14.0%), and (5) highly positive dimensions of spirituality (11.6%). Notably, the latent profiles differed in terms of the treatment completion rates. The results suggest the need to carry out a multidimensional assessment of spiritual functioning of persons beginning alcohol addiction therapy to provide treatment that is adjusted to patients' spiritual potential and deficits.
... Taken together, these findings provide a "profile" of demographic characteristics of veterans who might be more predisposed to experience gratitude and its benefits, as well as veterans who are at risk for low gratitude, and concomitant psychiatric and psychosocial correlates. Consistent with previous studies, a higher grateful disposition was associated with higher scores on measures of functioning (Wood, Joseph, et al., 2008), personality traits (Breen et al., 2010), social connectedness (Wood, Maltby, Gillett, et al., 2008), resilience and posttraumatic growth (Vieselmeyer et al., 2017), religiosity and spirituality (Rosmarin et al., 2010), as well as other resilience-promoting factors. Higher levels of dispositional gratitude were associated with reduced odds of a range of lifetime and current mental disorders, above and beyond known correlates. ...
Dispositional gratitude may be linked to positive mental health outcomes, yet population-based data on this association are lacking. Military veterans are an ideal population in which to examine this question given high rates of psychiatric morbidities and efforts to promote psychological resilience in this population. Data were analyzed from a nationally representative sample of 3,151 U.S. veterans. Veterans were separated into three groups based on an assessment of level of dispositional gratitude: high gratitude (weighted 79.8%), moderate gratitude (9.6%), and low gratitude (10.5%). Multivariable analyses examined the associations between level of dispositional gratitude, and measures of mental health and psychosocial variables. A “dose-response” association was observed between levels of dispositional gratitude and odds of psychiatric morbidities. Higher dispositional gratitude was associated with decreased risk for lifetime history of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), social phobia, nicotine dependence, and suicide attempts, and decreased risk for current PTSD, MDD, generalized anxiety disorder, and suicidal ideation (odds ratio range = 0.16-0.65). Higher dispositional gratitude was additionally associated with resilience-promoting characteristics such as optimism, curiosity, purpose in life, perceived social support, and religiosity/spirituality (Cohen’s d range = 0.11-0.73). Dispositional gratitude is prevalent in U.S. veterans, is negatively associated with psychiatric morbidities, and may help promote psychosocial factors linked to resilience in this population. Stratification of veterans with low, moderate, and high dispositional gratitude may help identify those who are at increased risk for psychiatric illness and in need of additional support.
... For instance, cross-sectional studies have found that gratitude is connected with high level of self-compassion (Homan & Hosack, 2019;Zhang & Wang, 2019). Moreover, a research by using self-report and informant data confirmed the link between gratitude and self-compassion (Breen, Kashdan, Lenser, & Fincham, 2010). More important, intervening study has shown that after 6 months gratitude intervention, adults become less self-critical and increase their wellbeing (Sergeant & Mongrain, 2011). ...
Recent studies have documented the negative association between gratitude and cyberbullying perpetration. However, it is unknown about the mediating mechanisms connecting this link. The current study examined whether self-compassion and moral disengagement would mediate the link between gratitude and cyberbullying perpetration. A sample of 1488 Chinese college students (Mage = 19.84 years, SD = 1.61) completed questionnaires including demographics, gratitude, self-compassion, moral disengagement, and cyberbullying perpetration. The results showed that: (a) gratitude was negatively associated with cyberbullying perpetration; (b) both self-compassion and moral disengagement mediated the association between gratitude and cyberbullying perpetration in a parallel manner; (c) self-compassion and moral disengagement sequentially mediated the link between gratitude and cyberbullying perpetration. The study illuminates the role of individual positive traits (such as gratitude and self-compassion) in decreasing moral disengagement and cyberbullying perpetration and implies that gratitude and self-compassion can be trained for reducing cyberbullying perpetration among adults.
What is the impact of dispositional gratitude on well-being? By synthesizing the literature, we evaluate the association between dispositional gratitude and mental well-being as a function of its various categories (i.e., positive, negative), dimensions (i.e., subjective, psychological), and indicators (e.g., life satisfaction, happiness, stress). Our meta-analytic aggregation of 404 effect sizes from 158 independent samples (N = 100,099) provides evidence that dispositional gratitude is moderately to strongly correlated with well-being, and that the strength of these associations varies by the indicator of well-being. We also examine potential moderators (i.e., religiosity, individualistic orientation, age, gender, dispositional gratitude measure, and sample type) of the association between dispositional gratitude and well-being. We find that country-level individualistic orientation, sample mean age, and sample type (i.e., clinical vs. non-clinical) present moderating effects for several of the relationships examined. We conclude the paper by presenting avenues for future research.
Because humans are social creatures, we often experience benefits on a group-level. Yet gratitude research has focused on single recipients largely to the exclusion of groups. Do people still experience gratitude, even if the recipient is broader than themselves? 2 experiments contrast the effects of group-based versus individual-based favors on gratitude. Undergraduate participants read scenarios where single benefactors provided recipients with either a group-based or individual benefits. When only group level was manipulated (Study 1, N = 122), participants showed more gratitude, indebtedness, and intention to reciprocate for individual compared to group-level benefits. When both group based benefits and benefactor motivations were manipulated (Study 2, N = 124), only motivations showed effects. Results suggest that people do experience gratitude for group-level favors, and group favors may influence gratitude-relevant attributions of motivation.
The fishing households' motivation is saving their money is self-encouragement to set aside funds from fishing activities to meet their family needs and useful savings funds in the future. This research aims at analyzing the fishing households' motivation in facing the uncertainty of their income that relies on their earning from the sea. This study was conducted by employing a survey in relation to discovering a description of the motivation in saving by fishing households. This study was purposively done in Pasongsongan Sub-District, Sumenep Regency, East Java. The sampling technique used was proportionate stratified random sampling. This study employed a qualitative phenomenological method, and the collected data were analyzed descriptively. The results showed that one of the fishing households' motivations for saving was the large income at the time of fish harvest, future expectations for their children's education cost, the family dependents and their own satisfaction in working as fishermen. For fishing households, saving at any amount is an economic necessity to carry on their life properly by reducing consumptive expenditures whose benefits can be reaped in the future. Fishermen save by keeping their money at home or in bank savings accounts. They also save by converting their money to gold as a form of investment that they keep at home. The highest number of the saving was fishing households with < 10 GT fishing vessels at 36.62%, while those with 10-30 GT fishing vessels at 16.90% and those with outboard motors at 9.86%. Fishing households' motivation in saving is a form of fishermen's awareness of unexpected needs in the future. In fact, in the process of saving, there are fishermen who have not considered to record their financial expenditures since they are planning to save their money in the following year. The allocation of savings made by fishing households is for their children's school fees, their own boat repairing or purchase cost.
Keywords: Motivation in Saving. Fishermen, Pasongsongan, Sumenep In
THE FULL TEXT IS AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE:
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HJSCMT2MWGNTRBIW63PU/full?target=10.1080/16066359.2019.1642332
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Background: Despite a growing number of studies confirming the positive role of forgiveness and gratitude in alcohol addiction treatment, there is a scarcity of research involving groups of alcohol-dependent individuals who do not attend alcohol addiction therapy. The aim of this study was to examine the role of forgiveness and gratitude in the quality of life among persons who have just started alcohol addiction therapy and alcohol-dependent individuals who have never attended this kind of treatment.
Method: Using propensity score matching, individuals beginning an outpatient alcohol treatment program (n = 166) were matched with patients of detoxification wards who have never participated in alcohol addiction therapy (n = 166). The Forgiveness Scale, the GQ-6, and the SF-36v2 were used to assess the patients’ moral virtues and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).
Results: Alcohol-dependent individuals who have never participated in alcohol addiction therapy had higher self-forgiveness and feeling forgiven by God, and were less grateful than patients who have just started an outpatient alcohol treatment program. Furthermore, a multiple mediation analysis revealed that: (1) Being uninterested in beginning alcohol addiction therapy correlated with lower gratitude that, in turn, decreased both physical and mental HRQoL; (2) For mental HRQoL, however, this indirect effect was canceled out by higher self-forgiveness and feeling forgiven by God, which increased HRQoL.
Conclusions: The results suggest there is a need to diagnose forgiveness and gratitude in order to effectively motivate alcohol-dependent individuals to begin therapy.
This study aims to investigate the relationship between friendship quality and pro-social variables (commitment, gratitude, forgiveness, trust and altruism) and their roles in predicting friendship quality, as well as there is another aim which sex differences in quality of friendship among Cairo University students is who belong to latent adolescence.
The study sample consists of (417) males and females from University students, the number of males is (204), with an average age of (19.74) years, and a standard deviation of (1.05) years, whereas (213) females, with an average age of (19.58) years, and a standard deviation of (1.02) years. This sample was selected both theoretical and practical colleges. Six scales have been applied to the sample: the scale of friendship quality and scales for each pro-social variable with consideration of the psychometric features for these scales. The statistical analysis leads to the following results:
First: regarding the results about the relationship friendship quality and pro-social variables (commitment, gratitude, forgiveness, trust and altruism), there is a significant positive correlation between friendship quality and pro-social variables (commitment, gratitude, forgiveness, trust and altruism) in both males and females.
Second: regarding pro-social variables' role in predicting friendship quality, trust was the most variable could predict of friendship quality in both males and females.
Third: regarding the findings of the sex differences in quality of friendship, females were more in friendship quality compared with males' friendship.
fourth: the results revealed that there was the main effect of sex and pro-social variables, besides there wasn't any effect of interactions between sex and pro-social variables except trust variable; females with high trust were more friendship quality than males with high trust.
Finally, the study introduced a number of recommendations for future studies in this topic.
Keywords: Friendship Quality, Pro-social Variable, Commitment, Gratitude, Forgiveness, Trust, Altruism
Bu çalışma esas olarak dijitalleşmenin ağırlık kazandığı dijital çağda, işletmelerin liderlik ihtiyacı ve liderlik faaliyetleri üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Çalışmanın temel amacı, liderlik kavramının dönüşümüyle birlikte, dijital çağda işletmelerin ihtiyaçlarına yönelik gelişmeye başlayan dijital liderliğin özelliklerini ortaya koymaktır. Bu bağlamda çalışma, dijital liderliği ele alan teorik ve amprik çalışmalardan müteşekkil bir literatür taramasını içermektedir.
Çalışmaya Çizgi Kitabevi: http://www.cizgikitabevi.com/kitap/1171-sosyal-bilimlerde-guncel-konular-ve-arastirmalar ulaşabilirsiniz.
The current study examined the nature of gratitude and future time perspective (FTP) during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the effects of age and virus worry on the associations between gratitude and remaining opportunities and time. Data came from a survey of a representative sample of Swiss adults (N = 1,008; 18–90 years) assessed during the pandemic in 2020. Local structural equation modeling (LSEM) was used to investigate the effects of continuous age and virus worry on mean-levels and correlations. While gratitude was unaffected by age and worry, the remaining opportunities and time factors of FTP decreased across age and levels of worry. The associations between gratitude and the FTP factors were invariant across age and levels of worry. Additionally, using previous cross-sectional data, the study found that associations between gratitude and future time perspective were significantly smaller during the pandemic as compared to an assessment in 2018.
The present research describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a second version of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), which assesses the construct referred to as, variously, acceptance, experiential avoidance, and psychological inflexibility. Results from 2,816 participants across six samples indicate the satisfactory structure, reliability, and validity of this measure. For example, the mean alpha coefficient is .84 (.78–.88), and the 3-and 12-month test–retest reliability is .81 and .79, respectively. Results indicate that AAQ-II scores concurrently, longitudinally, and incrementally predict a range of outcomes, from mental health to work absence rates, that are consistent with its underlying theory. The AAQ-II also demonstrates appropriate discriminant validity. The AAQ-II appears to measure the same concept as the AAQ-I (r = .97) but with better psychometric consistency.
Experimental evidence suggests that when people are transgressed against interpersonally, they often react by experiencing unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is conceptualized as a stress reaction. Forgiveness is one (of many) ways people reduce unforgiveness. Forgiveness is conceptualized as an emotional juxtaposition of positive emotions (i.e., empathy, sympathy, compassion, or love) against the negative emotions of unforgiveness. Forgiveness can thus be used as an emotion-focused coping strategy to reduce a stressful reaction to a transgression. Direct empirical research suggests that forgiveness is related to health outcomes and to mediating physiological processes in such a way as to support the conceptualization that forgiveness is an emotion-focused coping strategy. Indirect mechanisms might also affect the forgiveness-health relationship. Namely, forgiveness might affect health by working through social support, relationship quality, and religion.
Research programs examining psychological strengths and vulnerabilities have
remained largely separate, making it difficult to determine the relative contributions of
strengths and vulnerabilities to well-being. Two studies (241 normals, 54 depressed outpatients)
compared certain psychological strengths (Transcendence subscales, Values In
Action Inventory of Strengths) and cognitive vulnerabilities (Dysfunctional Attitudes
Scale). In multiple regression, strengths usually related more to positive well-being—life
satisfaction, positive affect, vitality, meaning, elevating experience—though vulnerabilities
also related to the first three variables; vulnerabilities related more to illbeing—
negative affect, depression—though hope, humor, enthusiasm, and forgiveness sometimes
also showed relationships. Pre-treatment strengths (hope, spirituality, appreciation of
beauty and excellence) predicted post-treatment recovery from depression; cognitive
vulnerabilities did not. Strengths and vulnerabilities sometimes interacted, with strengths
weakening the relationship between vulnerabilities and well-being. Our findings indicate
that strengths and vulnerabilities are not mere opposites (correlating at most moderately)
and deserve study as distinct contributors to well-being.
Generalizability analyses were used to evaluate the contribution of individual differences to people’s transgression-related interpersonal motivations (TRIMs). Individual differences accounted for 22% to 44% of the variance in participants’ TRIMs (i.e., avoidance, benevolence, and revenge). Although revenge motivation is apparently more cross-situationally consistent than either avoidance or benevolence, estimating people’s dispositions on the basis of their responses to single transgressions will lead to perilously undependable estimates for all three TRIMs. Agreeableness consistently predicted revenge, whereas both Neuroticism and Agreeableness predicted avoidance and benevolence. The association of Neuroticism, but not Agreeableness, with people’s TRIMs appeared to be mediated by appraisals of transgression severity. Differences in people’s responses to historical versus fictional transgressions suggest that transgression-related motivational dispositions should probably be estimated with responses to historical rather than fictional transgressions.
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.
Previous functional brain imaging studies suggest that the ability to infer the intentions and mental states of others (social cognition) is mediated by medial prefrontal cortex. Little is known about the anatomy of empathy and forgiveness. We used functional MRI to detect brain regions engaged by judging others' emotional states and the forgivability of their crimes. Ten volunteers read and made judgements based on social scenarios and a high level baseline task (social reasoning). Both empathic and forgivability judgements activated left superior frontal gyrus, orbitofrontal gyrus and precuneus. Empathic judgements also activated left anterior middle temporal and left inferior frontal gyri, while forgivability judgements activated posterior cingulate gyrus. Empathic and forgivability judgements activate specific regions of the human brain, which we propose contribute to social cohesion.
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.
Forgiveness and gratitude are positive psychological characteristics that are connected to well-being. This study examined
these connections in an understudied population of psychotherapy outpatients and examined the extent to which affect and beliefs
mediated these relationships. Participants were 72 outpatients who completed a battery of assessments as part of a standard
intake protocol. Results showed that forgiveness and gratitude were both positively and strongly associated with well-being
and largely, though not completely, mediated by affect and belief. Forgiveness and gratitude may have an important place in
the positive psychologist’s repertoire of well-being enhancing techniques and exercises in general, and may be particularly
powerful with a clinical psychotherapy population.
We conducted two studies investigating the relationship of gratitude to autobiographical memory of positive and negative life
events. Gratitude was assessed with an attitudinal measure and college students were asked to recall both positive and negative
events from their past. In both studies, a significant positive relationship was found between trait gratitude and a positive
memory bias. In Study 2 it was found that gratitude still reliably predicted positive memory bias after controlling for depression.
Further, it was found that a positive intrusive memory bias was associated with gratitude in both studies. Thus, an important
component of gratitude may be an enhanced tendency to recall positive events from one's life.
This article examines the longitudinal relationship between forgiveness and the restoration of closeness and commitment in relationships that have been damaged by transgressive behavior. Participants were 201 university students who had recently incurred painful interpersonal transgressions. The revenge and benevolence dimensions of forgiveness appeared to facilitate later closeness and commitment, whereas the avoidance dimension of forgiveness appeared to have a reciprocal causal relationship with closeness and commitment. Ramifications for the association between forgiveness and reconciliation are discussed.
Thesis--University of Texas at Austin. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-219).
The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between forgiveness and happiness using a two-dimensional model of happiness (hedonic and eudaimonic happiness). 224 United Kingdom students were administered the Enright Forgiveness Inventory, The Depression–Happiness Scale and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire – Short-form. The present findings suggest that forgiveness accounts for statistically significant variance, albeit quite low, in both hedonic and eudaimonic happiness and the relationships may vary depending on which aspect of happiness is being considered. In terms of shorter-term hedonic happiness, the present findings suggest it is important not to engage in negative cognitions about the transgression. In terms of maintaining eudaimonic happiness, engaging in positive behaviours and feelings may lead to, be the result of, or be very much part of longer-term happiness. Copyright Springer 2005
In summary, this work extends previous findings by demonstrating that anger produces a sympathetically dominated power spectrum, whereas appreciation produces a power spectral shift toward MF and HF activity. Results suggest that positive emotions lead to alterations in HRV, which may be beneficial in the treatment of hypertension and in reducing the likelihood of sudden death in patients with congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease.
In this article I evaluated the psychometric properties of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3). Using data from prior studies of college students, nurses, teachers, and the elderly, analyses of the reliability, validity, and factor structure of this new version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale were conducted. Results indicated that the measure was highly reliable, both in terms of internal consistency (coefficient alpha ranging from .89 to .94) and test-retest reliability over a 1-year period (r = .73). Convergent validity for the scale was indicated by significant correlations with other measures of loneliness. Construct validity was supported by significant relations with measures of the adequacy of the individual's interpersonal relationships, and by correlations between loneliness and measures of health and well-being. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a model incorporating a global bipolar loneliness factor along with two method factor reflecting direction of item wording provided a very good fit to the data across samples. Implications of these results for future measurement research on loneliness are discussed.
Interpersonal forgiving was conceptualized in the context of a 2-factor motivational system that governs people's responses to interpersonal offenses. Four studies were conducted to examine the extent to which forgiving could be predicted with relationship-level variables such as satisfaction, commitment, and closeness; offense-level variables such as apology and impact of the offense; and social-cognitive variables such as offender-focused empathy and rumination about the offense. Also described is the development of the transgression-related interpersonal motivations inventory--a self-report measure designed to assess the 2-component motivational system (Avoidance and Revenge) posited to underlie forgiving. The measure demonstrated a variety of desirable psychometric properties, commending its use for future research. As predicted, empathy, apology, rumination, and several indexes of relationship closeness were associated with self-reported forgiving.
Psychologists have not determined the defining characteristics of extraversion. In four studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that extraversion facets are linked by reward sensitivity. According to this hypothesis, only facets that reflect reward sensitivity should load on a higher order extraversion factor. This model was tested against a model in which sociability links the facets. The authors also tested the generalizability of the model in a diverse sample of participants from 39 nations, and they tested the model using widely used extraversion scales. Results of all studies indicate that only facets that reflect reward sensitivity load on a higher order extraversion factor and that this factor correlates strongly with pleasant affect. Although sociability is undoubtedly an important part of extraversion, these results suggest that extraverts' sociability may be a by-product of reward sensitivity, rather than the core feature of the trait.
Interpersonal offenses frequently mar relationships. Theorists have argued that the responses victims adopt toward their offenders have ramifications not only for their cognition, but also for their emotion, physiology, and health. This study examined the immediate emotional and physiological effects that occurred when participants (35 females, 36 males) rehearsed hurtful memories and nursed grudges (i.e., were unforgiving) compared with when they cultivated empathic perspective taking and imagined granting forgiveness (i.e., were forgiving) toward real-life offenders. Unforgiving thoughts prompted more aversive emotion, and significantly higher corrugator (brow) electromyogram (EMG), skin conductance, heart rate, and blood pressure changes from baseline. The EMG, skin conductance, and heart rate effects persisted after imagery into the recovery periods. Forgiving thoughts prompted greater perceived control and comparatively lower physiological stress responses. The results dovetail with the psychophysiology literature and suggest possible mechanisms through which chronic unforgiving responses may erode health whereas forgiving responses may enhance it.
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study I 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 I 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.
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.
The present research addresses the question of when and why forgiving might enhance psychological well-being. The authors predict that forgiving is associated with enhanced well-being but that this association should be more pronounced in relationships of strong rather than weak commitment. This hypothesis received good support in Studies 1-3. Studies 2 and 3 addressed the issue of why forgiving might be associated with psychological well-being, revealing that this association was reduced after controlling for psychological tension (i.e., a psychological state of discomfort due to conflicting cognitions and feelings). Study 4 revealed that in the context of marital relationships, tendencies toward forgiving one's spouse exhibited a more pronounced association with psychological well-being than did tendencies to forgive others in general.
Two studies were conducted to explore gratitude in daily mood and the relationships among various affective manifestations of gratitude. In Study 1, spiritual transcendence and a variety of positive affective traits were related to higher mean levels of gratitude across 21 days. Study 2 replicated these findings and revealed that on days when people had more grateful moods than was typical for them, they also reported more frequent daily episodes of grateful emotions, more intense gratitude per episode, and more people to whom they were grateful than was typical for them. In addition, gratitude as an affective trait appeared to render participants' grateful moods somewhat resistant to the effects of discrete emotional episodes of gratitude.
Four studies examine the construct validity of the Tendency to Forgive Scale (TTF), a brief measure of dispositional forgiveness. Study 1 showed that romantic partners' ratings of targets converged with targets' self-ratings, and Study 2 demonstrated that higher scores on the TTF were associated with lower offense accessibility. Study 3 examined the TTF's relation to self-reported depression symptoms, both independent of and interacting with attitudes toward forgiveness and dispositional vengeance. Lower TTF scores were associated with higher degrees of depression, especially for individuals with positive attitudes toward forgiveness or those low in dispositional vengeance, although neither of these latter variables displayed significant zero-order relations with depression. Finally, Study 4 examined relations between the TTF, dispositional empathy, another recent measure of dispositional forgiveness, and the dimensions of the Big Five, providing both convergent and discriminant validity evidence for the TTF.
Trait forgivingness is the disposition to forgive interpersonal transgressions over time and across situations. We define forgiveness as the replacement of negative unforgiving emotions with positive, other-oriented emotions. Rumination has been suggested as a mediator between forgivingness and emotional outcomes; however, we suggest that different content of rumination leads to different outcomes after transgressions. In four studies of 179, 233, 80, and 66 undergraduate students, trait forgivingness was negatively correlated with trait anger, hostility, neuroticism, fear, and vengeful rumination and was positively correlated with agreeableness, extraversion, and trait empathy. The disposition to ruminate vengefully mediated the relationship between trait forgivingness and (1) anger-related traits and (2) both revenge motivations and state anger following a specific recent transgression, but it did not mediate between forgivingness and (1) fearfulness and (2) avoidance motivations following a specific transgression. Self-hate statements, a proxy for depressive rumination, mediated the relationship between forgivingness and both depression and fearfulness but not the relationship between forgivingness and trait anger. Future research should distinguish the contents of mental rumination following interpersonal transgressions.
Past research has revealed that forgiveness promotes prosocial cognition, feeling, and behavior toward the offender. The present research extends this research by examining whether forgiveness may spill over beyond the relationship with the offender, promoting generalized prosocial orientation. Consistent with hypotheses, three studies revealed that forgiveness compared to unforgiveness is generally associated with higher levels of a generalized prosocial orientation, as indicated by higher levels of a we frame of mind (as indicated by a greater use of first-person plural pronouns, e.g., we, us, in a language task) and greater feelings of relatedness toward others in general. Moreover, forgiveness (vs. unforgiveness) was even associated with greater probability of donating to charity and greater willingness to engage in volunteering. Finally, the authors found that unforgiveness reduces tendencies toward generalized prosocial orientation, whereas forgiveness restores generalized prosocial orientation to baseline levels within the relationship.
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.
We live in a social arena. Yet, in our interactions with others do we ever really care about them, or is the real target of our concern always, exclusively ourselves? For many years psychology, including social psychology, has assumed that we are social egoists, caring exclusively for ourselves. Today, the computer analogy that underlies so much thinking in cognitive and social psychology overlooks the fact that we care altogether. Recent evidence in support of the empathy-altruism hypothesis suggests a very different view. It suggests that not only do we care but also that when we feel empathy for others in need, we are capable of caring for them for their sakes and not our own. Limits on the human capacity for altruistic caring are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the psychological aspects of gratitude. It discusses the reasons behind the increased interest in gratitude. These include the focus of the positive psychology movement on human strength and virtues, renewed interest of social scientists in people's religious and spiritual lives and resurgent interest in virtue ethics, a subfield of moral philosophy. This book examines the prosocial contours of gratitude, its origin and its manifestations and development in modern life.
This chapter examines how the conscious practice of gratitude can help transform individuals' emotional lives. It evaluates previous research that indicates that gratitude has a causal influence on mood, especially positive mood. It stresses the need for a critical examination of research on gratitude and well-being and argues that the cultivation of grateful emotions might be efficacious in the treatment and prevention of depressed affect.
This chapter examines the feeling of being grateful. It suggests feeling grateful is similar to other positive emotions that help build a person's enduring personal resources and broaden an individual's thinking. It describes various ways by which gratitude can transform individuals, organizations, and communities in positive and sustaining ways. It discusses the specific benefits of gratitude including personal and social development, community strength and individual health and well-being.
This article defines the construct of self-compassion and describes the development of the Self-Compassion Scale. Self-compassion entails being kind and understanding toward oneself in instances of pain or failure rather than being harshly self-critical; perceiving one's experiences as part of the larger human experience rather than seeing them as isolating; and holding painful thoughts and feelings in mindful awareness rather than over-identifying with them. Evidence for the validity and reliability of the scale is presented in a series of studies. Results indicate that self-compassion is significantly correlated with positive mental health outcomes such as less depression and anxiety and greater life satisfaction. Evidence is also provided for the discriminant validity of the scale, including with regard to self-esteem measures.
An ACT Approach Chapter 1. What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? Steven C. Hayes, Kirk D. Strosahl, Kara Bunting, Michael Twohig, and Kelly G. Wilson Chapter 2. An ACT Primer: Core Therapy Processes, Intervention Strategies, and Therapist Competencies. Kirk D. Strosahl, Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson and Elizabeth V. Gifford Chapter 3. ACT Case Formulation. Steven C. Hayes, Kirk D. Strosahl, Jayson Luoma, Alethea A. Smith, and Kelly G. Wilson ACT with Behavior Problems Chapter 4. ACT with Affective Disorders. Robert D. Zettle Chapter 5. ACT with Anxiety Disorders. Susan M. Orsillo, Lizabeth Roemer, Jennifer Block-Lerner, Chad LeJeune, and James D. Herbert Chapter 6. ACT with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Alethea A. Smith and Victoria M. Follette Chapter 7. ACT for Substance Abuse and Dependence. Kelly G. Wilson and Michelle R. Byrd Chapter 8. ACT with the Seriously Mentally Ill. Patricia Bach Chapter 9. ACT with the Multi-Problem Patient. Kirk D. Strosahl ACT with Special Populations, Settings, and Methods Chapter 10. ACT with Children, Adolescents, and their Parents. Amy R. Murrell, Lisa W. Coyne, & Kelly G. Wilson Chapter 11. ACT for Stress. Frank Bond. Chapter 12. ACT in Medical Settings. Patricia Robinson, Jennifer Gregg, JoAnne Dahl, & Tobias Lundgren Chapter 13. ACT with Chronic Pain Patients. Patricia Robinson, Rikard K. Wicksell, Gunnar L. Olsson Chapter 14. ACT in Group Format. Robyn D. Walser and Jacqueline Pistorello
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.
Forgiving promotes continuity in interpersonal relationships by mending the inevitable injuries and transgressions that occur in social interaction. This article presents a conceptual model positing that forgiveness is prosocial change in the motivations to avoid or to seek revenge against a transgressor. Social-psychological factors that are correlates and determinants of forgiving are reviewed. Also reviewed is the current measurement technology for assessing forgiveness constructs at the offense-specific level, the relationship-specific level, and the dispositional level. The links between forgiveness and human health and well-being are also explored. The article concludes with recommendations for future research on forgiving.
Italian husbands (n = 79) and wives (n = 92) from long-term marriages provided data on the role of marital quality, affective reactions, and attributions for hypothetical partner transgressions in promoting forgiveness. Structural equation modeling revealed that, as hypothesized, positive marital quality was predictive of more benign attributions that, in turn, facilitated forgiveness both directly and indirectly via affective reactions and emotional empathy. Unexpectedly, marital quality did not account for unique variance in forgiveness. Compared to husbands, wives' responsibility attributions were more predictive of forgiveness, whereas empathy was a better predictor of forgiveness in husbands than in wives. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the burgeoning therapeutic literature on forgiveness. Intimate relationships satisfy our deepest affiliative needs and are also the source of some of our most poignant hurts. When the hurt occurs, negative feelings (e.g., anger, resentment) are common, creating a potential disruption in the relationship. One means of meeting this challenge is through forgiveness, a concept that has received remarkably little attention in science despite its pervasiveness across cultures and major religions (Worthing- ton & Wade, 1999). Although it is a complex construct without a consensual definition, at the center of various approaches to forgiveness is the idea of a transformation in which motivation to seek revenge and to avoid contact with the transgressor is lessened and prosocial motivation toward the transgressor is increased. According to the psychotherapy literature, forgiveness helps to restore relation- ships, release bitterness and anger, and heal inner emotional wounds (e.g., DiBlasio &
We live in a social arena. Yet, in our interactions with others do we ever really care about them, or is the real target of our concern always, exclusively ourselves? For many years psychology, including social psychology, has assumed that we are social egoists, caring exclusively for ourselves. Today, the computer analogy that underlies so much thinking in cognitive and social psychology overlooks the fact that we care altogether. Recent evidence in support of the empathy-altruism hypothesis suggests a very different view. It suggests that not only do we care but also that when we feel empathy for others in need, we are capable of caring for them for their sakes and not our own. Limits on the human capacity for altruistic caring are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This is a self-help book for people who have been deeply hurt by another and are caught in a vortex of anger, depression, and resentment. As a creator of the first scientifically proven forgiveness program in the country, this author shows how forgiveness can reduce anxiety and depression and increase self-esteem and hopefulness. The author shows how forgiveness, approached in the correct manner, benefits the forgiver far more than the forgiven. The author is careful to distinguish forgiveness from "pseudo-forgiveness" and to reassure readers that forgiveness does not mean accepting continued abuse or even reconciling with the offender. Rather, by giving the gift of forgiveness, readers are encouraged to confront and let go of their pain in order to regain their lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
How to maintain relatedness in the context of being harmed by others, especially an intimate partner, is a fundamental human challenge. Forgiveness provides a way of meeting this challenge as it removes the barrier to relatedness caused by a transgression. But scientists know very little about forgiveness and its role in close relationships. This article therefore offers a conceptual analysis of forgiveness. The analysis then serves as the foundation for an organizational framework that can be used to study forgiveness in close relationships. Finally, preliminary data are presented that speak to some of the issues introduced in the article.