The Science of Gratitude

A white paper prepared for the John Templeton Foundation by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, May 2018.

“Of all crimes that human creatures are capable of committing, the most horrid and unnatural is ingratitude” David Hume

The science of gratitude is a relatively new field and covers disciplines as varied as psychology, biology, and neurology to mention a few.From these fields, pieces of research have appeared over the last 20 years which fleshes out some of the evidence on gratitude; its origins, social benefits, and nuances compared. This is a summary of the above paper, in which I have picked the most relevant and compelling researched areas on gratitude as a distinct field of study.

What is Gratitude?

It has been broken down into 3 areas; 1) affective trait, 2) mood, 3) and emotion

• A) – Affective trait, – “stable predispositions toward certain types of emotional responding”
• B) – Mood – Moods, according to Rosenberg, “wax and wane, fluctuating throughout or across days.”
• C) – Emotion – more short-term reactions to particular events—for example, feeling grateful after receiving a gift.

Even some animals demonstrate “reciprocal altruism” with close companions.For humans, gratitude is usually hampered by other traits such as envy, materialism, narcissism, and cynicism. Research suggests that gratitude may be associated with many benefits for individuals, including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, decreased materialism, and more.Gratitude may also benefit people with various medical and psychological challenges. For example, one study found that more grateful cardiac patients reported better sleep, less fatigue, and lower levels of cellular inflammation, and another found that heart failure patients who kept a gratitude journal for eight weeks were more grateful and had reduced signs of inflammation afterwards. Several studies have found that more grateful people experience less depression and are more resilient following traumatic eventsGratitude as a practice has also been shown to develop other positive traits such as patience, humility, and wisdom.

Gratitude may also benefit people with various medical and psychological challenges. For example, one study found that more grateful cardiac patients reported better sleep, less fatigue, and lower levels of cellular inflammation, and another found that heart failure patients who kept a gratitude journal for eight weeks were more grateful and had reduced signs of inflammation afterwards. Several studies have found that more grateful people experience less depression and are more resilient following traumatic eventsStudies have found that more grateful adolescents are more interested and satisfied with their school lives, are more kind and helpful, and are more socially integrated. A few studies have found that gratitude journaling in the classroom can improve students’ mood and that a curriculum designed to help students appreciate the benefits they have gained from others can successfully teach children to think more gratefully and to exhibit more grateful behaviour (such as writing more thank you notes to their school’s PTA).Research suggests that gratitude inspires people to be more generous, kind, and helpful (or “prosocial”); strengthens relationships, including romantic relationships; and may improve the climate in workplaces.Research suggests that more grateful people may also have more neural hallmarks of altruism.This suggests that practising gratitude changes the brain in a way that orients people to feel more rewarded when other people benefit,Lived experience with practising gratitude can also open the heart – and allow a more grounded, self-regulated, and calm demeanour. This changes the presence of the individual and raises their vibration.Petty annoyances will be diminished and higher, and more loving and kinder states are easier to experience from a position of gratitude.These traits, like laughing yoga, can make you more likely to laugh in your daily life, so gratitude practice can make you more likely to experience and demonstrate gratitude as you progress in your practice.This piece is a précis of this paper, found here https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf