The Science and

Practice of
Gratitude

Robert A. Emmons

Presentation at the Greater Good Science Center,

September 25th , 2009
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-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 the sources
 Recognitions of Gratitude

Recognize the gift

Recognize the goodness of the gift
Recognize the goodness of the
giver
Recognize the gratuitous nature of
the gift
 Two main questions:
1. Can gratitude be cultivated on a
regular basis?
2. If so, what are the effects of
gratitude on human health,
happiness and well-being?
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.”
 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.
A practice of gratitude can enhance
health

• Enhances healthy behaviors

• Enhances healthy sleep
• Reduces blood pressure
• Taking care of one’s health
Gratitude in Educational
Settings
 Does counting
blessings impact
children’s well-
being?
 Gratitude
intervention with
6th and 7th graders
 What good is gratitude?
1. Gratitude allows
celebration of the present
2. Gratitude blocks toxic
emotions (envy, resentment,
regret, depression)
3. Grateful people are more
stress-resilient
4. Gratitude strengthens
social ties and self-worth
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.

What is a grateful person?

The grateful person

accepts all of life as a gift
 Measuring Dispositional Gratitude

• The GQ (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang,

2002)
“If I had to list everything that I felt grateful
for, it would be a very long list”; “When I look
at the world, I don’t see much to be grateful
for.”
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
 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
Is Gratitude Counterintuitive?
1. It contradicts the self-serving bias
2. It contradicts the need for control
3. It contradicts the just-world hypothesis
If Gratitude Is So Good, Why Is
It So Difficult? Obstacles to
Gratefulness
 Pervasive negativity
 Entitlement
 Distractions/Forgetfulness
 Inability to accept dependency
 Suffering
Enhancing feeling and being…

• How can I go beyond just feeling

more grateful to actually BEING a
more grateful person?”
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
How to develop a practice of
“counting your blessings”
• Develop a practice that’s best for you
• First, think about 3 good things--3 things
that went well recently
• Then write abut how you are grateful for
these things
• Begin by counting your blessings every day
for a week, then follow this week up with
regular “booster” sessions
• Be creative, not repetitive
6. Use visual
reminders/cues
7. Watch your language
8. Make a vow to practice
gratitude
9. Send a gratitude letter
10. Think outside the box
 Gratitude as a Motive for Altruism

“Many of our exemplars

express their positivity as a
deep gratitude for the
satisfaction they get from
their work…since service to
others helps one find one’s
own inner spirituality, one is
grateful to the other for the
opportunity to serve”
--Colby and Damon, p. 278
Gratitude Toward Institutions?
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?
Gratitude Amplifies the Good
Gratitude is the Amplifier of the
Good…
• It amplifies the good things in our lives
• It amplifies the good people in our lives
• It amplifies the good in ourselves
Albert Schweitzer on gratitude
• “The gratitude that
we encounter helps
us believe in the
goodness of the
world, and
strengthens us
thereby to do what is
good”