What Good is
Gratitude? Insights
from the Science of
Well-Being
Robert A. Emmons
February 17 th, 2010
Contact:
raemmons@ucdavis.edu
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-richquick 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?
Circumstances
10%
Intentional
Activity
40%
Set Point
50%
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 parking
Messy kitchen no one will clean
Finances depleting quickly
No money for gas
Our house smells like manure
Burned my macaroni and cheese
Doing favor for friend who didn’t
appreciate it
Examples of ‘‘Blessings”
Generosity of friends
The right to vote
Saw grandson get first haircut
That I have learned all that I have
learned
Sunset through the clouds
The chance to be alive
That 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
athlete’s well-being?
Grateful athletes
are more satisfied
with their team and
show less athlete
burnout
(Source: Social
Indicators Research,
2008)
Does counting
blessings impact
children’s wellbeing?
 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

What Good is Gratitude?
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
1.
Gratitude Amplifies the Good
Gratitude lowers blood
pressure


The effectiveness of a 10-week, gratitudebased 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?
No! Gratitude facilitates goal attainment
Participants identified 6
personal goals they intended
to pursue in the next 2
months
Academic/vocational,
relational, health
Participants in the gratitude
condition made 20% more
progress, yet were no more
satisfied with the progress
they had made compared to
those in other conditions
What is a grateful person?
The grateful person
accepts 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 burden
 Satisfaction 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