GRATITUDE AS A HUMAN STRENGTH: APPRAISING THE EVIDENCE

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 1 9, No, 1 , 2000, pp. 56-69 GRATITUDE AS A HUMAN STRENGTH: APPRAISING THE EVIDENCE ROBERT A. EMMONS AND CHERYL A. CRUMPLER University of California, Davis Gratitude is an emotional state and an attitude toward life that is a source of human strength in enhancing one's personal and relational well-being. In this article, we first explore the theological origins of gratitude as a virtue to be cultivated in the major monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each tradition emphasizes the development of gratitude as a path to a good life, and prescribes ap proaches for practicing. Gratitude is explored further in the context of psychologi cal theory and research. Empirical research linking gratitude with well-being and goal attainment is presented and discussed. Finally, future research questions and a tentative research agenda are presented. I learned what I must have forgotten somewhere in my busy, well-planned, and very \"useful\" life. I learned that everything is, is freely given by the God of love. All is grace. Light and water, shelter and food, work and free time, children, parents, and grandparents, birth and death it is all given to us. Why? So that we can say gracias, thanks: thanks to God, thanks to each other, thanks to all and every one. (Nouwen, 1983, p. 187) What is gratitude? What is the context in which it occurs? What are the consequences of experiencing and expressing it? What does it mean to be a grateful person? Gratitude has been conceptualized as an emotion, a virtue, a moral sentiment, a motive, a coping response, a skill, and an at titude. It is all of these and more. Minimally, gratitude is an emotional re sponse to a gift. It is the appreciation felt after one has been the This article is based on an invited talk at the \"Classical Sources of Human Strength\" confer ence, Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center, Ellicott Citv, Maryland, December 1998 This article was prepared while Robert A. Emmons was being supported by a grant from the John M Templeton Foundation. Address correspondence to Robert A. Emmons, Department of Psychology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8686. E-mail: [email protected] 56

GRATITUDE 57 beneficiary of an altruistic act (Lazarus & Lazarus, 1 CW4). Social psychol ogist Fritz Heider (1958), provided a common-sense view that people feel grateful when receiving a benefit that was intended by another per son. As such, the Heiderian perspective accentuated the perceived intentionality of the sender as being crucial in shaping the recipient's sense of gratitude. Thus, gratitude is profoundly interpersonal. One does not talk about being grateful to oneself. One talks, as Henri Nouwen (1983) did in his journal chronicling a 6-month sojourn in Latin America, of giving thanks to God, to each other, and to everyone. How ever, gratitude does not necessarily require an interpersonal context. For instance, the farmer who has experienced weeks of rain is grateful when the sun comes out. Or, one can feel grateful for avoiding a mistake. In this article we reason that gratitude is a source of human strength, an \"aspect of human flourishing\" (Roberts, 1987) with implications for personal and relational well-being. Rather than attempting a compre hensive treatise on gratitude, our more circumscribed goal is to intro duce the theoretical basis of the concept, along with a few examples of past and potential scientific research. THE GRAMMAR OF GRATITUDE Although gratitude is most often conceived of as an emotional state in psychology, it has been portrayed as a virtue in the moral philosophy lit erature. Virtues are acquired excellences in character traits, the posses sion of which contributes to a person's completeness or wholeness. Virtues represent ideal states that facilitate adaptation to life. As a virtue, gratitude is a disposition to feel and express consistently the emotion of thankfulness across situations and over time, and to do so appropriately. Similarly, ingratitude is a vice. The ungrateful person, regularly re sponds to others beneficence with resentment, hostility, or indifference. Roberts (1991b) has argued that the disposition to acknowledge indebt edness is a source of strength, and the striving to feel and exhibit grati tude is a sign of human perfection. A lucid definition of gratitude as a virtue was provided by Roberts (1984, 1987, 1991a, 1991b); to experience gratitude, he wrote, is to, \"gladly construe some person as a giver of some benefice (gift) to one self, and thus gladly to construe oneself as a recipient of some benefice from a benefactor, and thus as a kind of debtor\" (1991b, p. 334). As a vir tue, gratitude possesses a distinct \"grammar\" the rules for its usage, including what the virtue is like, what it includes and excludes, and its connections. Roberts identifies the conditions that elicit a response of gratitude. The grammar of gratitude includes the concepts of giver, re cipient, gift, and debtor. Perhaps the most essential feature of gratitude,

58 EMMONS AND CRUMPLER as identified by both Roberts (1991b) and Berger (1975), is that it is a re sponse to perceived benevolence. Behavior that arises from grateful feel ings is a response to the benevolence of others who intended to provide help. One also must be willing to be indebted to the benefactor; if the gift is resented, perceived as an obligation, gratitude is impossible. Yet sheer dislike of the gift is irrelevant; one can be grateful for the intentions of the benefactor (\"it's the thought that counts\"). THE PARADOX OF GRATITUDE There is an intriguing and paradoxical aspect to gratitude: To be genu inely grateful is to feel indebted for a debt that can never be repaid. Ex pressions of gratefulness are attempts to repay debts for which no payment may be possible. Roberts (1991a) soberly points out that no amount or form of repayment can compensate for sacrificial gifts. At the same time, gifts obligate the recipient to recognize the gift and express appropriate gratitude. Gratitude is both a duty (Berger, 1975) and an ob ligation (Meilaender, 1984). Meilaender depicted gratitude as a \"pecu liar obligation,\" in that there are \"obligations and debts which of their very nature cannot be adequately fulfilled and discharged\" (p. 163). A simple exchange or reciprocity notion cannot begin to deal with the pro fundity of gratitude in this sense. Gratitude involves a willingness to re main indebted, to acknowledge dependency on the benefactor. It is inappropriate to repay a debt too quickly or too literally. Roberts (1991a) describes this situation in the context of filial gratitude: If I am grateful to my parents for feeding me, changing my diapers, introducing me to God, holding me when I was afraid, comforting me when I was distraught, and housing and educating me for 20 or more years, then I acknowledge gladly that there is no way I can give back to them in the measure that they have given to me. If I nurse mv father for the last two weeks of his life, or do a few repair jobs around the house for my mother, these acts can only be by some grotesque distraction of mind be considered repayment of their gifts... they are ways of saying \"I gladly admit that my debt to vou is unrepayable.\" (p. 329) At the same time, however, this acknowledgement of indebtedness ;s a repayment of the gift in a way that is appropriate to the relationship of the recipient to the giver. It is clear from Robert's analysis that gratitude is a relational virtue that involves strong feelings of appreciation toward significant others. Schimmel (1997) also writes about gratitude as a moral obligation, as something that we \"owe\" to others as we are pro-

GRATITUDE 59 foundly dependent upon them for our well-being. Regrettably, he states, \"gratitude as a moral virtue is not emphasized in our culture\" (p. 208). THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF GRATITUDE Religion is a source of some of the most profound emotional experi ences. Gratitude, like forgiveness (McCullough & Worthington, in press) and agape love (Post, 1990), bridges theological and psychologi cal understandings of human nature. As an emotion, the roots of grati tude can be seen in many of the world's great religious traditions. In the great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the con cept of gratitude permeates the texts, prayers, and the teachings. Wor ship with gratitude to God for the many gifts and mercies are common themes, and believers are urged to develop this trait. As such, gratitude is one of the most common emotions that religions seek to provoke and sustain in believers. What follows is a consideration of gratitude from these three religious perspectives. HEBRAIC CONCEPTIONS In Judaism, gratitude is a vital component of worship and permeates ev ery aspect of the worshipers daily life. For instance, upon arising from sleep, the worshipper thanks Yahweh for having \"returned our soul to us\" (Kertzer, 1993). The Hebrew Scriptures, in particular the poetry of the Psalms, are saturated with thanksgiving to God: \"O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever\" (Ps. 30:12) and \"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart\" (Ps. 9:1). King David commanded the chosen priests who would be ministers before the Ark of the Covenant, \"To in voke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel\" (1 Chron. 16:4-36). In the worship of ancient Israel, special instructions are given concerning the offering of thanks to God (Lev. 7:28-29). Biblical prayers of thanksgiving take a particular form, in which human distress and a cry to God is met with deliverance from the situation. Within Judaism, the proper response is a public proclamation praise and thanksgiving for God's steadfast love and faithfulness (Anderson, 1991; Miller, 1994). The Jewish prayers begin with the Shema in which the worshipper recites from the Bible, \"You shall love the Eternal, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might\" (Deut. 6:5), and the concluding prayer the Alenu, thanks God for the particular destiny of the Jewish people (Kertzer, 1993). In addition to these daily prayers, the observant Jew recites more than one hundred berakhot (blessings) throughout the day. Thankfulness for everything is appropriate in Judaism because all things come from God in the Hebrew worldview, and Jewish life is filled with

60 EMMONS AND CRUMPLER thankfulness. Rabbis have taught, \"It is forbidden to a man to enjoy any thing of this world without a benediction, and if anyone enjoys anything of this world without a benediction, he commits sacrilege\" (Wilson, 1989, p. 157). Thus, a prayer is said upon hearing good or bad news, and God is praised for everything. In this way, a divine perspective on life is kept. CHRISTIAN GRATITUDE Theological perspectives on Christian gratitude can be found in classical (Edwards, 1746/1959; Kempis, 1441/1989), as well as contemporary (Browning, 1992; Foster, 1992; Roberts, 1991a) theological and devo tional writings. Gratitude always has been central among the Christian virtues. Being created by a personal God, Christians are obligated to praise and thank the source of their life. Roberts (1991a) and Meilaender (1984) have argued that gratitude molds and shapes the entire Christian life, thus being inextricably connected to mental, physical, and relational well-being. An indebtedness to others enables followers of Christ to share a common bond, which shapes not only emotions and thoughts, but actions and deeds. In Christian gratitude, God becomes the giver of all good gifts, the ultimate foundation for thankfulness. Gratitude is a state of well-being and righteousness, these stem from a profound sense of indebtedness to the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. Christian grat itude is a glad acknowledgment of God's generosity that provides the model for how Christians are to deal with their own children and with each other. Jonathan Edwards, the 17th century revivalist preacher and theolo gian, described two forms of gratitude in his theological classic A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. The central theme of what has been de scribed as the first comprehensive work in the psychology of religion is, How shall the presence of true spirituality within a person be discerned? Love, gratitude, and thankfulness displayed toward God were among the signs of true religion. Edwards distinguished between natural grati tude and a gracious or spiritual gratitude. Natural gratitude is thanks ex pressed to God for the benefits that the person has received, whereas gracious gratitude has its source in the knowledge of the goodness of God independently of favors received. The \"gracious stirrings of grate ful affection to God\" (Edwards, 1959, p. 247), in which love flows from the heart as a response to the divine, differs greatly from all other forms of gratitude. These insights contain important practical implications for the contemporary concern of measuring religious spirituality. Items as sessing thankfulness and gratitude toward God might be included in measures of spirituality. Allport (1950) suggested that mature religious intentions or strivings issue out of feelings of profound gratitude and

GRATITUDE 61 thankfulness toward God, and Edwards (174b/195L) contended that the \"affection\" of gratitude is one of the surest ways to discern the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person's life. There is some limited empirical research on gratitude within a Chris tian context. Samuels and Lester (1985) found that, in a small sample of Catholic nuns and priests, out of 50 emotions, love and gratitude were the most frequently experienced emotions toward God. A qualitative studv by Griffith (1998) documented the ecstatic experiences of \"pious emotion\" in American Pentecostal women in the first half of the 20th century. Common in the narratives analyzed were heartfelt and lively expressions of joy, gratitude for every aspect of life, and a blissful sense of peace. GRATITUDE IN ISLAM The Holy Koran, which is divided into chapters called suras repeatedly asserts the necessity for gratitude and thankfulness to God throughout the chapters. For instance, in Sura fourteen it is written \"If vou are grate ful, I will give vou more\" (14:7). A traditional Islamic saying states that, \"The first who will be summoned to paradise are those who have praised God in every circumstance\" (Qushayri, 1997, p. 127). The prophet Mohammad also said \"Gratitude for the abundance you have received is the best insurance that the abundance will continue\" (Fadiman & Frager, 1997, p. 178). True gratitude, it is taught, draws more abundant graces upon the believer. The performance of the daily Islamic prayers is considered to be one of the \"pillars\" of the religion. The essence of the prayer is not to ask nor pe tition God, but to show everlasting praise and adoration to God for life and mercy. This is apparent in the opening lines of Sura Fatehe (the open ing chapter) of the Koran, which begins each of the five daily prayers (1:1-5). In the name of God, most gracious most merciful. Praise be to God, The cherisher and sustainer of the worlds; Most gracious, most merciful; master of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek. Another pillar of Islam is fasting during the month of Ramadhan. This period is prescribed as leading to a state of gratitude. \"He wants you to complete the prescribed period and to glorify him that He has guided you, and perchance ye shall be grateful\" (Koran, 2:185). In Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, entire book chapters have been devoted to developing gratitude. Gratitude often is divided into

62 EMMONS AND CRUMPLER different ranks or stages. First is gratitude for the gifts received from God, for one should be grateful for receiving any gift. But an even higher state is attained when one becomes grateful for not receiving gifts or at being delayed in having a hope fulfilled. In this state of gratitude, one sees the blessings that are veiled in affliction and this is considered an in sight into the wisdom and workings of God. The final state of gratitude culminates in a recognition that no amount of worship is sufficient to ex press the gratitude and adoration owed to the Creator, and that even the state or feelings of gratitude are a gift from God. Hence, there is grati tude for the capacity to feel grateful (Schimmel, 1975), literally a thank ing for the thanking. PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO GRATITUDE Within psychology, gratitude most often has been studied by social psy chologists (e.g., Baumeister & Ilko, 1995), and by emotion theorists tak ing a cognitive-appraisal approach to emotional experience. Among the latter group are Lazarus (Lazarus & Lazarus, 1994), Weiner (1986) and Ortony, Clore, and Collins (1987). Interestingly, the term gratitude rarely appears in the emotion lexicon (Shaver, Schwarz, Kirson, & O'Connor, 1987), and most psychologists of emotion, with the exception of the trio identified, have ignored the concept. Gratitude does not ap pear in the index of the Handbook of Emotion (Lewis & Haviland, 1993). Ambiguity and uncertainty concerning its status as an emotion appears to be the rule. For example, although Lazarus and Lazarus (1 994) discuss the concept at some length, in his earlier comprehensive monograph, Lazarus (1991) remarked that, \"I have ignored gratitude though with some misgiving, because in some instances, it may be a strong emotional state\" (p. 265). In his structural theory of the emotions, de Rivera (1977) neglected gratitude, yet in a later chapter he (de Rivera, 1984) included gratitude as one of 80 common emotion terms. Yet another emotion the orist displaying this \"gratitudinal ambivalence\" is Keith Oatley, who omits gratitude from his scholarly treatise (1992), but groups it with the social emotions in a later work (Oatlev & Jenkins, 1996). GRATITUDE IN COGNITIVE EMOTION THEORY Appraisal theories posit that emotions are the outcomes of event-related judgments. For example, Weiner's (1986) attributional model empha sizes causal appraisals about events as the main determinants of emo tional responses. Underlying properties or dimensions of causal attribution, in combination with event valence, influence the direction and magnitude of the felt emotion. There are two sets of emotions: out come-dependent and attribution-dependent. General affective reactions

GRATITUDE 63 of happiness and unhappiness are outcome dependent, whereas sec ondary emotional reactions of, say, pride, anger or gratitude follow spe cific patterns of causal attribution. In this framework, attributions to another for a pleasant outcome elicits gratitude. A recent study using so phisticated causal modeling techniques verified Weiner's model (Overwalle, Mervielde, & de Schuyter, 1995). Ortony, Clore, and Collins (1987) introduced a goal-based model of appraisal, where the consequences of events are appraised for their rele vance to one's ongoing goal pursuits. Representational systems consist ing of goals, standards (consisting of \"oughts\"), and attitudes (a dispositional liking or disliking of objects) mediate between objective events and the attendant emotional reactions. In addition, there are three associated variables influencing the intensity of the felt emotion. These include desirability of the event, praiseworthiness (or blameworthiness of agents), and appealingness. In their framework, gratitude is a com pound of admiration and joy: It consists of approving of someone else's praiseworthy actions and feeling joy for the desirability of the outcome. The variables that affect the intensity of gratitude are (a) the degree of judged praiseworthiness, (b) deviation of the agent's action from role-based expectations, and (c) the desirability of the event. The main contribution of this model is that it specifies conditions under which gratitude is and is not likely to occur, and calls attention to nuances that might be missed in other analyses of gratitude. For example, felt grati tude may reflect the potential desirability of an event independently of the outcome, such as the case where someone aids in the unsuccessful search for a lost child. Twenty years before Ortony et al. (1987) published their theory, Tesser, Gatewood, and Driver (1968) demonstrated that the recipient's judged intention of the benefactor, the cost to the benefactor, and the value of the benefit together influenced felt gratitude, thereby supporting the Ortony et al. (1987) model. The last theory to be considered in this section is the appraisal theory of Richard Lazarus (Lazarus & Lazarus, 1994). He places gratitude in the class of empathic emotions, because along with compassion, it depends on the capacity to empathize with others. Each emotion, according to Lazarus, is associated with a distinctive dramatic plot, defining what is happening to the person and its significance for the person's well-being (what he also has referred to as the emotion's \"core relational theme\"). The dramatic plot for gratitude is the appreciation of an altruistic gift. Both giving and receiving of the gift involve empathy, because one must sense the donor's positive intention and the donor must sense the need of the recipient. Lazarus and Lazarus (1994) describe the \"many faces of gratitude\" (p. 118), and suggest that the personal meanings attached to giving and receiving influence the experience of gratitude within an in terpersonal transaction.

64 EMMONS AND CRUMPLER BIOSOCIAL ORIGINS OF GRATITUDE The biosocial origins of gratitude as an emotion have been discussed from within an evolutionary framework. In his analysis of reciprocal al truism, Trivers (1971) argued that gratitude serves to reward others' acts of altruism; in creating an obligation, gratitude motivates the recipient of an altruistic act to reciprocate. Gratitude thus serves as a type of an in surance policy for future cooperation. Tiger and Fox (1971; as cited in Weisfeld, 1980) proposed that gratitude not only enabled social ex change, but provided a way of trading a resource of little value for one of greater value. Gratitude presumably evolved relatively recently (Weisfeld, 1980), concomitantly with the development in higher mam mals and humans to actively assist others. Weisfeld further speculates that the main transitional event from animal dominance hierarchies to human social systems was the evolution of gratitude. Taken as a whole, the philosophical, theological, cognitive-emotional, and biosocial perspectives on gratitude provide guidelines for examin ing the structure of gratitude, its ultimate and proximal sources, and the intra- and interpersonal functions of its expression. They offer a fertile theoretical base for the generation of testable hypotheses. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON GRATITUDE AND WELL-BEING To illustrate how one might approach the scientific study of gratitude and well-being, we will describe a recent study conducted by the first author (R.A.E.) which examined gratitude and thanksgiving in every day life (Emmons, 1999). For 10 weeks, undergraduate students enrolled in a health psychology class were asked to complete a weekly log of their emotions, physical symptoms, and health behaviors. The weekly log in cluded two global judgments where participants were asked to evaluate their life as a whole during the past week and their expectations for the upcoming week. In addition to filling out the weekly report, research participants were assigned randomly to one of three conditions. One third were asked to simply record up to five major events or circum stances that most affected them during the week, a second third were asked to write down five hassles or minor stressors that occurred in their life in the past week, and the final third were asked to write down five things in their lives for which they were grateful or thankful. Results revealed significant differences between the three groups on the outcome measures. Relative to the hassles and events group, partici pants in the gratitude condition felt better about their lives as a whole and were more optimistic regarding their expectations for the upcoming week. The thankful group reported fewer physical complaints overall than the hassles group, and spent significantly more time exercising

GRATITUDE 65 TABLE I The Gratitude Laws of Life 2-4: An attitude of gratitude creates blessings 6-2: Thanksgiving leads to having more to give thanks tor 10-3: Count your blessings and vou will have an attitude of gratitude 13-4- Thanksgiving, not complaining, attracts people to you 14-4: It is better to praise than to criticize 23-3 Thanksgiving leads to giving and forgiving, and to spiritual growth 37-5 Count your blessings every day and thev will grow and multiply like well-tended plants Note Source Templeton, | M ( W-17) \\\\',>0du'nte lair^ of lye Two hundred eternal spiritual principle- Radnor, PA Templeton Press than did subjects in the other two groups. This finding suggests that the emotional and mental benefits of a thankful focus are associated with in creased feelings of physical vitality. Participants who had been in the gratitude condition reported having made more progress toward their goals, on average, than participants in the other two groups. The benefits of an attitude of gratitude appear to extend beyond the domain of mood and well-being to encompass an indicator of effective functioning, the attainment of concrete goals in life. The study provides some empirical support for the supposition that gratitude is a source of human strength. GRATITUDE AS AN ETERNAL SPIRITUAL LAW? The Laws of Life (Templeton, 1997) are eternal spiritual principles that embody fundamental, universal guiding principles consistent with many of the world's great wisdom traditions The laws pertaining to gratitude and thanksgiving are shown in Table 1. Seven deal specifically with the effects of thanksgiving and the consequences of adopting an at titude of gratitude. The findings of the study on thankfulness in daily life are relevant for several of these laws, and might be taken as providing preliminary experimental support for them. QUESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH We will conclude by presenting some questions for a possible research agenda on gratitude. As a relatively uncharted area of psychological in quiry, many more could be added to this list. (a) How is gratitude related to other classical human virtues and vices? Envy leads to feelings of ingratitude (Schimmel, 1997). Humility and love, on the other hand, may be prerequisites for thankful feelings. Feelings of gratitude may inspire a person to be more forgiving, particu larly if one is grateful for having been forgiven by God or by others for one's transgressions. In our study of gratitude in everyday life, when

66 EMMONS AND CRUMPLER subjects reported feelings of gratitude, they also reported feeling more loving, hopeful, and forgiving. (b) Can the practice of gratitude alleviate distress as well as enhance positive well-being? Consider clinically depressed individuals. Might thev profit from an exercise in thankfulness (Miller, 1995)? Ru mination prolongs and intensifies depressive mood (Morrow & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1990). What if ruminative thoughts were redi rected from self-inadequacy to undeserved merit? Might the practice of gratitude as a mood regulation tactic also be effective for the remediation of anger? (c) What are the most promising strategies for inculcating an attitude of gratitude? If the ability to experience and express gratitude is a learned capacity, then instruction and various exercises might be effec tive means for developing gratitude. Research on counterfactual think ing (imagining alternative possible outcomes) or downward social comparison has demonstrated that people engage in mental simulations in an attempt to improve their moods. Miller (1995) and Templeton (1997) provide a number of concrete suggestions for the inculcation of gratitude. (d) Is there a negative side to gratitude? Even though a gift is a gift and ought to be freely given, gifts may be binding. People may resent being placed in an inferior and dependent position. Attitudes toward indebt edness have been studied with some success (Greenberg & Westcott, 1983). On the flip side, some people may enjoy the advantages of a hier archical imbalance by frequently giving gifts that cannot be repaid. Nar cissistic persons, for example, may wish others to remain in their debt and may balk at repayment attempts. (e) What is the link between gratitude and happiness? Gratitude tends to be a very pleasant emotion that is linked with positive psychological states such as contentment (Walker & Pitts, 1998), happiness, pride, and hope (Overwalle et al., 1995). An attitude of gratitude might foster more positive moods; conversely, temperament differences in hedonic level might lead a person to interpret events in a grateful or ungrateful way. In a recent survey of American teens and adults, over 90\"n of respondents indicated that expressing gratitude helped them to feel \"extremely happy\" or \"somewhat happy\" (Emerging Trends, 1998). (f) How common is it for people to be grateful in unpleasant life cir cumstances, and to what extent are these a significant component of gratitude-generating experiences? As the Bible exhorts believers to be grateful in all circumstances (1 Thes. 5:18, NIV), is it really possible to do so? What characteristics make it possible to be thankful no matter what the circumstances? The examination of gratitude in the lives of people coping with major adversities might be illuminating. An attitude of grat-

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