Ordinary Gratitude

Gratitude: Positive Psychology in Practice

Positive Psychology researchers are confirming in study after study that regular demonstrations of gratitude will make you happier and healthier. Positive Psychology research focuses on the study of well-being, what makes people happier, fulfilled, and engaged in life. Researchers find that the simple act of gratitude, when regularly practiced, makes a significant improvement in people's lives.

What Is Gratitude?

In a recent interview by Senia Maymin carried in the International Positive Psychology Association Newsletter of April, 2008, Dr. Alex Wood, a postgraduate researcher in the Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, defines gratitude this way: "Gratitude is a life orientation towards noticing and appreciating the positive in the world. As such, gratitude is an integral part of well-being. Gratitude can be contrasted with a depressive bias - where depressed people focus on the negative in the self, world, and future. A grateful personality leads to well-being during everyday life."

Gratitude and Good Health

University of California Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons indicates that "Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, (and) regular physical examinations." His research finds that grateful people tend to be more optimistic, a characteristic that boosts the immune system.

Begin the Day with Gratitude

David Pollay, in "A Daily Dose of Awe and Gratitude" (Positive Psychology News Daily, March 3, 2007) describes a process of beginning each day with a few moments spent in awe of something beautiful or fascinating, and feeling gratitude for the experience.

University of Virginia Psychologist Jonathan Haidt and Dacher Keltner, University of California-Berkeley Psychology professor, noted that "People consistently report that experiences of awe and elevation have profound outcomes, motivating self-improvement, personal change, altruistic intentions and actions, and the devotion to others and the larger community." (Character Strengths and Virtue, Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman)

via changing-personal-habits.suite101.com

Measuring the Grateful Disposition

Most people report being grateful (an average rating of nearly 6 on a 7 point scale).

Well-Being: Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower levels of depression and stress.  The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feeling states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions.  Grateful people do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.

Prosociality: People with a strong disposition toward gratitude have the capacity to be empathic and to take the perspective of others.  They are rated as more generous and more helpful by people in their social networks (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).

Spirituality: Those who regularly attend religious services and engage in religious activities such as prayer reading religious material score are more likely to be grateful.  Grateful people are more likely to acknowledge a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and a commitment to and responsibility to others (McCullough et. al., 2002). Gratitude does not require religious faith, but faith enhances the ability to be grateful.

Materialism: Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods; they are less likely to judge their own and others success in terms of possessions accumulated; they are less envious of  others; and are more likely to share their possessions with others relative to less grateful persons.

via http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/labs/emmons/

Practicing Gratitude Can Increase Happiness by 25%

Psychological research finds that people's happiness levels are remarkably stable over the long-term. Whether you win the lottery or are paralysed from the neck down, after about three to six months you'll have returned to your usual level of happiness. While these findings are deeply counter-intuitive, they also raise a serious problem for those wanting to increase levels of happiness permanently.

A possible answer comes from recent research in the psychology of gratitude. Yes, you read that correctly - being thankful might be the key to raising your happiness 'set-point'. And there is some good experimental evidence to back up this theory.

In his new book 'thanks!', Dr. Robert A. Emmons describes research he carried out (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

Participants in the gratitude condition were found to be more satisfied with their lives overall, more optimistic about the upcoming week and crucially, were sleeping better. Good sleep is important as it has been found to be a great indicator of overall well-being. People who sleep well are generally healthier and happier than those whose sleep is poor.

via www.spring.org.uk

Make a Gratitude Adjustment

Gratitude is a sentiment we'd all do well to cultivate, according to positive psychologists, mental health clinicians and researchers who seek to help everyone create more joy in life. Feeling thankful and expressing that thanks makes you happier and heartier—not hokier.

The biggest bonuses come from experiencing gratitude habitually, but natural ingrates needn't despair. Simple exercises can give even skeptics a short-term mood boost, and "once you get started, you find more and more things to be grateful for," says Robert Emmons, a leading gratitude researcher at the University of California at Davis.

via www.psychologytoday.com