Gratitude has become increasingly integral to our understanding of well-being and human flourishing. As positive psychology researcher Sonya Lyubomirsky writes, “gratitude is a kind of meta-strategy for achieving happiness.”
It can appear in our lives as a value, trait, behavior, attitude, feeling, and expression. All of its forms speak in some way to an appreciation for a benefit received, with a nearly limitless field of potential sources, including family, friends, co-workers, nature, spiritual connection, health, pets, and even yourself.
Researchers studying gratitude have reported its positive impact on relationship quality, loneliness, sleep quality, and emotional well-being. One frontier in the scientific exploration of gratitude is how different kinds of gratitude experiences and expressions contribute to happiness.
Gratitude journaling is a common way of cultivating appreciation and involves writing down thoughts and feelings of appreciation on a regular basis. Some might simply choose to list their daily sources of gratitude, while others may go on to describe why they feel grateful for what they listed. Making a gratitude list by itself is associated with improvements in perceived stress and depression. Gratitude letter writing interventions are common as well.
Lyubomirsky and others have observed that gratitude can neutralize negative emotional states. For example, in a group of incarcerated males, a daily gratitude list exercise and sharing gratitude with other inmates reduced levels of aggression. It also increased the participants’ subjective well-being.
There are opportunities to innovate when it comes to gratitude interventions. With the guidance of Dr. Marie Sizemore, students in PCOM’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology program have incorporated gratitude in different ways into their Capstone projects, either as part of a larger wellness intervention or as a stand-alone approach.
Katelyn Dory and Linda Martin have made gratitude a central part of their workplace wellness programs. Katelyn has combined education around gratitude’s benefits with an exploration of ways to express and receive appreciation. Linda developed short daily gratitude meditations and a journaling exercise. Anxhela Kalia is evaluating the impact of gratitude sharing and journaling on self-efficacy and self-compassion in individuals living with schizophrenia. Michael Hall has woven gratitude into a multi-component positive psychology program for older adults.
Future research on gratitude may answer the question as to whether specific kinds of gratitude practice are more effective for certain populations. Neuroscience research is already contributing to our understanding of gratitude’s correlates in the brain. Researchers have discovered that trait gratitude, for instance, is associated with observable differences in the brain’s gray matter volume. A gratitude letter writing intervention resulted in greater and lasting neural sensitivity to gratitude based on activity measured in the prefrontal cortex.
As work continues to expand in this important area of positive psychology, gratitude promises to remain at the top of the list when it comes to helping people live optimally and maximize life satisfaction.
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