Robert A. Emmons

February 17th, 2010Contact:

raemmons@ucdavis.edu

What Good is Gratitude? Insights from the Science of

Well-Being

How to get rich quick… “I cannot tell you anything

that, in a few minutes, will tell you how to be rich. But I can tell you how to feel rich, which is far better, let me tell you firsthand, than being rich. Be grateful…It's the only totally reliable get-rich-quick scheme.”

--Ben Stein, lawyer, writer, actor and economist

Gratitude has the power

to heal,

to energize, and

to change lives.

Gratitude:

• Affirming goodness and recognizing that the sources of this goodness are outside the self

Two main questions:

1. Can gratitude be cultivated on a regular basis? How?

2. If so, what are the effects of gratitude on human health, happiness and well-being?

Why happiness matters: Happy people are more

successful in life

1. Health and well-being

2. Career success and income levels

3. Relationship duration

and satisfaction

Happiness makes good things happen:

• higher income and superior work outcomes (e.g., greater productivity, higher quality of work, greater occupational attainment)

• larger social rewards (more satisfying and longer marriages, more friends, stronger social support, and richer social interactions)

• more activity and energy, better physical health (e.g., a bolstered immune system, lowered stress levels, less pain) and even longer life

What Determines Happiness?

Set Point50%Intentional

Activity40%

Circumstances10%

Gratitude: The Key to Life?

“Whatever you are in search of—peace of mind, prosperity, health, love—it is waiting for you if only you are willing to receive it with an open and grateful heart.”

G. K. Chesterton on Gratitude

“gratitude produced the most purely joyful moments that have been known to man”

“All goods look better when they look like gifts”

,

Counting Blessings or Burdens?

Random assignment, placebo controlled experimental trials

Examples of Hassles

Hard to find parkingMessy kitchen no one will cleanFinances depleting quicklyNo money for gasOur house smells like manureBurned my macaroni and cheeseDoing favor for friend who didn’t

appreciate it

Examples of ‘‘Blessings”Generosity of friendsThe right to voteSaw grandson get first haircutThat I have learned all that I have

learnedSunset through the cloudsThe chance to be aliveThat my in-laws live only 10 mins.

away

Research on the Benefits of Gratefulness: Experimental Findings

• Psychological (Positive emotions: alert, energetic, enthused, attentive)

• Physical (more exercise, better sleep, fewer symptoms)

• Interpersonal (more helpful and connected, less lonely and isolated)

Source: R.A. Emmons & M.E. McCullough, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003, 84, 377-389.

Gratitude is sexy…• “Strengths of character”

including the capacity to love and be loved, wisdom, spirituality, kindness, forgiveness and gratitude are highly desirable traits in a romantic partner

(Journal of Adolescence, 2003)

Does gratitude promote an Does gratitude promote an athlete’s well-being?athlete’s well-being?

Grateful athletes Grateful athletes are more satisfied are more satisfied with their team and with their team and show less athlete show less athlete burnout burnout

(Source: (Source: Social Social Indicators Research,Indicators Research, 2008)2008)

Does counting blessings impact children’s well-being?

Gratitude intervention with 6th and 7th graders

The gratitude induction was related to optimism, overall life satisfaction, and domain-specific life satisfaction (e.g., school experience, residency)

The gratitude group reported greater satisfaction with their school experience at both the immediate post-test and 3-week follow-up

Journal of School Psychology, 2008

1. Gratitude maximizes enjoyment

2. Gratitude blocks toxic emotions (envy, resentment, regret, depression)

3. Gratitude is an element of psychological capital

4. Gratitude strengthens social ties and self-worth

What Good is Gratitude?

Gratitude Amplifies the Good

Gratitude lowers blood pressure

The effectiveness of a 10-week, gratitude-based intervention for the treatment of hypertension in low-income, inner-city, African-American patients was compared to a control condition

Patients in the gratitude condition achieved statistically significant decreases in their systolic blood pressures, increases in gratitude, and decreases in hostility

Gratitude and weight loss Does gratitude

journaling facilitate compliance with and success of a weight management program (LIFESTEPS®)?

Participants are enrolled in the Preventive Cardiology program at UCD Medical Center

Is Gratitude a Buffer Against Loneliness and/or Depression?

• Gratitude is important in the prevention of depression

• Grateful people show a positive memory bias

• Gratitude enhances the retrievability of positive experiences (Watkins et al., 2003)

• Grateful people are less isolated

Gratitude and Academic Outcomes

• Howells (2007) developed a 12-week “Integrated Learning” course

• Designed to show university students the relevance of gratitude to academic learning

• Gratitude was chosen among other practices; it had the most dramatic effect on ability to study and also on relationships and general well-being

• “Once I had an innermost attitude of gratefulness I found the world to be a different place. The class was not as long and I seemed to be more attentive because I was trying to use my time there more wisely”

Myths About Gratitude

1. Gratitude just another form of positive thinking.

2. Gratitude strips people of initiative and leads to complacency or even passive resignation.

3. It is impossible to be grateful in the midst of suffering.

Does gratitude encourage passivity?Does gratitude encourage passivity?No! Gratitude facilitates goal attainmentNo! Gratitude facilitates goal attainment

Participants identified 6 Participants identified 6 personal goals they intended personal goals they intended to pursue in the next 2 to pursue in the next 2 monthsmonthsAcademic/vocational, Academic/vocational, relational, healthrelational, healthParticipants in the gratitude Participants in the gratitude condition made 20% more condition made 20% more progress, progress, yet were no more yet were no more satisfiedsatisfied with the progress with the progress they had made compared to they had made compared to those in other conditionsthose in other conditions

What is a grateful person?What is a grateful person?

The grateful person The grateful person accepts all of life as a giftaccepts all of life as a gift

There is a difference between feeling grateful and being grateful.

Feeling grateful is a response to a benefit.

Being grateful is a way of life.

Grateful vs. Ungrateful People: Contrasting Worldviews

Lens of abundance vs. lens of scarcity

What life is offering vs. what life is denying

Life as a gift vs. life as a burdenSatisfaction vs. deprivation

If Gratitude Is So Good, Why Is It So Difficult? Obstacles to

Gratefulness Pervasive negativity Entitlement Distractions/Forgetfulness Inability to accept dependency Suffering

Evidence-Based Prescriptions for Building Gratitude: The Top 10

1. Keep a gratitude journal

2. Remember the bad

3. Build gratitude-supporting thoughts

4. Identify ungrateful thoughts

5. Come to your senses

6. Use visual reminders/cues

7. Watch your language

8. Make a vow to practice gratitude

9. Go through the motions

10. Think outside the box

The Gratitude Visit Select one important person from your past who has made

a major positive difference in your life and to whom you have never fully expressed your thanks. Choose someone who is still alive.

Write a testimonial just long enough to cover one laminated page. Take your time composing this – several weeks if required. Invite that person to your home or travel to that person’s home. It is important that you do this face to face, not just in writing or on the phone. Do not tell the person the purpose of the visit in advance.

Bring a laminated version of your testimonial with you as a gift. Read your testimonial aloud slowly, with expression and eye contact. Then let the other person react unhurriedly. Reminisce together about the concrete events that make this person so important to you.

The Daily Gratitude Inventory

1. Recall your day

2. Associate each item with the word gift. Take time to relish and savor this gift.

3. In what ways might I “give back" to others as an appropriate response for the gratitude I feel?

Mental exercises for cultivating gratitude

1. Think about the absence of a blessing

2. Make a “what I take for granted list”

3. Consider being deprived of a routine pleasure

4. Why don’t I feel grateful for what I really wanted?

Video: A Good Day

Gratitude is a choice…

“I believe that life is not always fair. It has certainly been true in my case. It is not fair that I should have wonderful, caring, supportive parents who raised me right, and brothers and sisters that are there when I need them. It’s not fair

that I should be blessed with a beautiful, talented wife and together

we should have two equally, beautiful, talented daughters who make us proud daily. No, life is not fair. Why should I have had so many years of good health and energy and good friends to camp and backpack with through the years…ALS is a terrible disease, but it does

not negate the rest of my life.”--49 yr. old male with ALS

For more information…

“In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich"

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer