Gratitude is the “forgotten factor” in happiness research.
Dr. Michael McCollough of the University of Miami and Dr. Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis conducted a long-term research project designed to create and disseminate a large body of novel scientific data on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its potential consequences for human health and well-being.
Scientists are latecomers to the concept of gratitude. Religions and philosophies have long embraced gratitude as an indispensable manifestation of virtue, and an integral component of health, wholeness, and well-being.
Summary of Findings
◦ In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).
◦ A related benefit was observed in the realm of personal goal attainment: Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic, interpersonal and health-based) over a two-month period compared to subjects in the other experimental conditions.
◦ A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which participants thought they were better off than others). There was no difference in levels of unpleasant emotions reported in the three groups.
◦ Participants in the daily gratitude condition were more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or having offered emotional support to another, relative to the hassles or social comparison condition.
◦ In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high energy positive moods, a greater sense of feeling connected to others, more optimistic ratings of one’s life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality, relative to a control group.
◦ Children who practice grateful thinking have more positive attitudes toward school and their families (Froh, Sefick, & Emmons, 2008).
(Source: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/Labs/emmons/PWT/index.cfm)
Thought of the Day
Be thankful for yourself – Make a list of your very best qualities and hang it on your mirror to look at when you get ready in the morning.
Interested? Dr Emerson is conducting highly focused, cutting-edge studies on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its consequences; he hopes to shed important scientific light on this important concept through two main lines of inquiry at the present time:
(1) developing methods to cultivate gratitude in daily life and assess gratitude’s effect on well-being, and
(2) developing a measure to reliably assess individual differences in dispositional gratefulness.
For further information, please contact Robert Emmons at raemmons@ucdavis.edu
Would you like to measure you level of happiness? Take Dr Emerson’s quiz here.
Improve your health and well-being, check what the scientists say.
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Have a safe and happy holiday!
The Work that Matters team.
