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Li S, Liu J, Pan Y, Chen X. The Longitudinal Relationship between Parent-Child Attachment and Adolescents' Gratitude: The Mediating Role of Perceived Parental Communal Strength. J Youth Adolesc 2023; 52:2661-2671. [PMID: 37679530 DOI: 10.1007/s10964-023-01857-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has found a significant association between parent-child attachment and gratitude, while the directionality of this association and its potential mechanisms remain unclear. This study examined the longitudinal associations between parent-child attachment, gratitude, and perceived parental communal strength, which is adolescents' perception of their parents' willingness to make sacrifices to provide care and meet their needs. A total of 1348 adolescents and one of their parents (Mage = 12.96, SD = 0.70 years; 51.3% girls) participated in this three-wave study, with a six-month lag. The results of the cross-lagged panel models showed that attachment anxiety and avoidance negatively predicted adolescents' gratitude after six months. Perceived parental communal strength mediated the longitudinal effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance on gratitude. However, the impact of gratitude on perceived parental communal strength and parent-child attachment was non-significant. The findings suggest that adolescents with insecure parent-child attachment have negative perceptions of their parents, which could contribute to their lack of gratitude. Adolescents' negative perceptions of their parents are crucial for understanding the mechanisms underlying the lack of gratitude observed in adolescents with insecure parent-child attachment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Song Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Junjun Liu
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637002, China
| | - Yangu Pan
- Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, 611130, China
| | - Xu Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
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Comparing gratitude and pride: evidence from brain and behavior. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 22:1199-1214. [PMID: 35437682 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-01006-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Gratitude and pride are both positive emotions. Yet gratitude motivates people to help others and build up relationships, whereas pride motivates people to pursue achievements and build on self-esteem. Although these social outcomes are crucial for humans to be evolutionarily adaptive, no study so far has systematically compared gratitude and pride to understand why and how they can motivate humans differently. In this review, we compared gratitude and pride from their etymologies, cognitive prerequisites, motivational functions, and brain regions involved. By integrating the evidence from brain and behavior, we suggest that gratitude and pride share a common reward basis, yet gratitude is more related to theory of mind, while pride is more related to self-referential processing. Moreover, we proposed a cognitive neuroscientific model to explain the dynamics in gratitude and pride under a reinforcement learning framework.
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Gao X, Yu H, Peng L, Gong X, Xiang Y, Jiang C, Zhou X. The mutuality of social emotions: How the victim's reactive attitude influences the transgressor's emotional responses. Neuroimage 2021; 244:118631. [PMID: 34601131 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2021] [Revised: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Would a transgressor be guiltier or less after receiving the victim's forgiving or blaming attitude? Everyday intuitions and empirical evidence are mixed in this regard, leaving how interpersonal attitudes shape the transgressor's reactive social emotions an open question. We combined a social interactive game with multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data to address this question. Participants played an interactive game in an fMRI scanner where their incorrect responses could cause either high or low pain stimulation to an anonymous co-player. Following incorrect responses, participants were presented with the co-player's (i.e., the victim's) attitude towards the harm (Blame, Forgive, or Neutral). Behaviorally, the victim's attitude and the severity of harm interactively modulated the transgressor's social emotions, with expectation violation serving as a mediator. While unexpected forgiveness following severe harm amplified the participants' guilt, unexpected blame following minor harm reduced the participants' guilt and increased their anger. This role of expectation violation was supported by multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI, revealing a shared neural representation in ventral striatum in the processing of victim's attitude-induced guilt and anger. Moreover, we identified a neural re-appraisal process of guilt in the transgressor, with the involvement of area related to self-conscious processing (i.e., perigenual anterior cingulate cortex) before knowing the victim's attitude transiting to the involvement of other-regarding related area (i.e., temporoparietal junction) after knowing the victim's attitude. These findings uncover the neurocognitive bases underlying the transgressor's social emotional responses, and highlight the importance of the mutuality of social emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxue Gao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
| | - Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-9660, USA.
| | - Lu Peng
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Xiaoliang Gong
- Key Laboratory of Embedded System and Service Computing (Ministry of Education), Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
| | - Yang Xiang
- Key Laboratory of Embedded System and Service Computing (Ministry of Education), Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
| | - Changjun Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Embedded System and Service Computing (Ministry of Education), Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
| | - Xiaolin Zhou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 200083, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
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Hazlett LI, Moieni M, Irwin MR, Haltom KEB, Jevtic I, Meyer ML, Breen EC, Cole SW, Eisenberger NI. Exploring neural mechanisms of the health benefits of gratitude in women: A randomized controlled trial. Brain Behav Immun 2021; 95:444-453. [PMID: 33932527 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2021.04.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Revised: 04/05/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Gratitude has received growing interest as an emotion that can bring greater happiness and health. However, little is known about the effects of gratitude on objective measures of physical health or the neural mechanisms that underlie these effects. Given strong links between gratitude and giving behavior, and giving and health, it is possible that gratitude may benefit health through the same mechanisms as giving to others. Thus, this study investigated whether gratitude activates a neural 'caregiving system' (e.g., ventral striatum (VS), septal area (SA)), which can downregulate threat responding (e.g., amygdala) and possibly cellular inflammatory responses linked to health. METHODS A parallel group randomized controlled trial examined the effect of a six-week online gratitude (n = 31) vs. control (n = 30) writing intervention on neural activity and inflammatory outcomes. Pre- and post-intervention, healthy female participants (ages 35-50) reported on support-giving behavior and provided blood samples to assess circulating plasma levels and stimulated monocytic production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)). Post-intervention, participants completed a gratitude task and a threat reactivity task in an fMRI scanner. RESULTS There were no significant group differences (gratitude vs. control intervention) in neural responses (VS, SA, or amygdala) to the gratitude or threat tasks. However, across the entire sample, those who showed larger pre- to- post-intervention increases in self-reported support-giving showed larger reductions in amygdala reactivity following the gratitude task (vs. control task). Additionally, those who showed larger reductions in amygdala reactivity following the gratitude task showed larger pre-to-post reductions in the stimulated production of TNF-α and IL-6. Importantly, gratitude-related reductions in amygdala reactivity statistically mediated the relationship between increases in support-giving and decreases in stimulated TNF-α production. CONCLUSION The observed relationships suggest that gratitude may benefit health (reducing inflammatory responses) through the threat-reducing effects of support-giving.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura I Hazlett
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Mona Moieni
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Michael R Irwin
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California, Los Angeles, 300 Medical Plaza Driveway, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Kate E Byrne Haltom
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Ivana Jevtic
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Meghan L Meyer
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Elizabeth C Breen
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California, Los Angeles, 300 Medical Plaza Driveway, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Steven W Cole
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California, Los Angeles, 300 Medical Plaza Driveway, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States; Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology, University of California, Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Ave., 60-054, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 757 Westwood Plaza #4, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Naomi I Eisenberger
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States.
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