Four experiments on the relational dynamics and prosocial consequences of gratitude

Gratitude promotes prosocial behavior even in uncertain situation

Gratitude is pivotal in promoting and maintaining prosocial interactions in human society. However, it is unclear whether the prosocial function of gratitude can be observed even in situations of uncertainty about whether one can provide benefits to others. Here, we examined whether gratitude promotes prosocial behavior in uncertain situations. Participants (N = 60) were randomly assigned to either a gratitude or neutral group. Following the emotion-induced manipulation, we examined whether participants would choose a non-unique resource when selecting one of four resources (one unique and three non-unique) to leave the choice to the follower. This represented an uncertain situation in which choosing a non-unique resource does not necessarily mean the follower will choose the unique one. Results showed that participants in the gratitude group were more likely to choose non-unique resources than those in the neutral group, suggesting that gratitude promotes prosocial behavior even in uncertain situations. Our findings indicate that gratitude is widely prevalent as a lubricant for interpersonal and cooperative relationships in human society.

The associations among gratitude, job crafting, teacher-student relationships, and teacher psychological well-being

Introduction

This study explores the complex dynamics among gratitude, job crafting, teacher psychological well-being, and teacher-student relationships within the context of Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers.

Methods

A sample of 456 Chinese EFL teachers participated in this study. Valid scales were administered to collect data on gratitude, job crafting, teacher psychological well-being, and teacher-student relationships. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to investigate these relationships.

Results

The findings reveal significant connections between gratitude, job crafting, teacher psychological well-being, and teacher-student relationships. SEM analysis demonstrates that gratitude and job crafting have direct effects on teacher psychological well-being. Furthermore, teacher-student relationships were identified as a mediator in these relationships.

Discussion

This study underscores the importance of gratitude and job crafting in enhancing the psychological well-being of EFL teachers. It highlights the mediating role of positive teacher-student relationships in the associations between gratitude, job crafting, and teacher psychological well-being. These results have implications for the development of interventions and practices aimed at promoting gratitude, job crafting, and positive teacher-student relationships in the EFL teaching context.

Gratitude endures while indebtedness persuades: investigating the unique influences of gratitude and indebtedness in helping

What is the temporal course of gratitude and indebtedness and how do these feelings influence helping in the context of reciprocity? In an online-game tapping real-life behaviour, Study 1 (N = 106) finds that while gratitude towards a benefactor remains elevated after an opportunity to reciprocate, indebtedness declines along with helping. Yet, indebtedness rather than gratitude better predicts real-life helping of a benefactor. Using a vignette-based experiment, Study 2 (N = 217) finds that after reciprocation indebtedness and likelihood of helping a benefactor reset to a baseline level while gratitude endures. Furthermore, the decrease in helping after reciprocation is better explained by indebtedness than by gratitude. Study 3 (N = 217) assessed the unique influences of gratitude and indebtedness on helping by comparing contexts in which gratitude is at a baseline level but indebtedness is elevated (e.g. before a monetary payment for a service received) to contexts in which indebtedness is at a baseline level but gratitude is elevated (e.g. after reciprocation of benefits freely given by a friend). People are more likely to help in the former compared to latter context, and this difference is better explained by indebtedness rather than by gratitude. We discuss the interrelated and understudied relationships between gratitude, indebtedness, and reciprocity.

Experimental effects of social behavior on well-being

Subjective well-being is characterized by relatively frequent positive emotions, relatively infrequent negative emotions, and high life satisfaction. Although myriad research topics related to subjective well-being have been explored - from how it should be measured to how it affects physical health - a key finding is that social connections are crucial. Researchers are therefore increasingly exploring whether subjective well-being can be improved through interventions that encourage specific types of social behaviors, including prosociality, gratitude, extraversion, and brief social interactions. We review this recent work, highlighting potential behavioral and psychological mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of such interventions, along with their boundary conditions.

Influence of distributive justice on organizational citizenship behaviors: The mediating role of gratitude

Distributive justice is known to have important emotional and affective outcomes. The present study explores the role of distributive justice as an antecedent to feelings of gratitude toward the organization. Borrowing from social exchange theory, we investigate the mediating role of gratitude in the relationship between “perceived fairness in distributive justice” and “employees’ organization citizenship behaviors (OCB).” Time-lagged, multi-source data was collected from 185 employees and their supervisors employed in a large manufacturing organization based in East India. Two significant findings emerge. First, the results indicate that feelings of gratitude signal fair distribution of benefits such that the employees go beyond the call of the duty to invest in OCB. Second, engagement in such acts seems to nullify their social debts highlighted in the social exchange perspective. Thus, a strong moral emotion, gratitude is a powerful vehicle that drives employees to act in the organization’s interests because doing is desirable and rightful. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

How Can Servant Leadership Promote Employees' Voice Behavior? A Moderated Chain Mediation Model

Purpose

Based on Social Exchange Theory, this paper constructs and evaluates the mediation model of servant leadership on employees' voice behavior through psychological security and error learning ability and discusses the moderation role of work autonomy in the model.

Design

This research used 424 employees and their direct superiors as the research objects and then conducted a paired survey at three points. Mplus7.4 software analyzed the empirical data.

Findings

The results are shown servant leadership is positively correlated with employees' voice behavior, but psychological security and error learning ability play a partial mediation role in the positive impact of servant leadership on employees' voice behavior. while psychological security and error learning ability play a chain mediation role in the positive impact of servant leadership on employees' voice behavior. Besides, work autonomy moderates the chain mediation path by enhancing the positive impact of servant leadership on psychological security. the higher the employees' work autonomy is, the stronger the positive impact of servant leadership on psychological security will be, and the stronger the chain mediation effect of psychological security and error learning ability between servant leadership and employees' voice behavior.

Practical Implications

Managers should abandon the traditional "command and control" management mode, focus on the servant leadership style and improve employees' psychological security through a comfortable and independent working environment. Besides, managers should set up a suitable error learning atmosphere mechanism, appropriately allow employees to work, give them a specific work autonomy, increase employees' work flexibility, and encourage employees to provide a cheerful voice for the development and progress of the organization.

Origin/value

From the perspective of Social Exchange, this study more comprehensively discusses the internal action path of the impact of servant leadership on employees' voice behavior, enriches the antecedent variables of employees' voice behavior, expands the existing research on the mediation mechanism of servant leadership, deepens the understanding of the efficiency mechanism of servant leadership, and has enlightenment significance for managers to stimulate employees' voice better.

Does Self-Control Promote Prosocial Behavior? Evidence from a Longitudinal Tracking Study

Although numerous researches have shown that self-control is a significant promoter of prosocial behavior, the mechanism behind this relationship is still unclear. According to the organism–environment interaction model and self-control model, this study researched whether life satisfaction played a mediating role between self-control and adolescents’ prosocial behavior and if friendship quality played a moderating role between self-control and prosocial behavior. This study used a longitudinal tracking research (T1&T2; and the interval between T1&T2 is 6 months). A total of 1182 Chinese middle school students participated the survey. They were between 12 and 15 years old (average age: 14.16 years old, SD = 1.29). Results indicated that life satisfaction played a mediating role between self-control and adolescents’ prosocial behavior. Furthermore, this direct relationship in the link between self-control and prosocial behavior was significant when adolescents had a good-quality friendship. These results highlight that life satisfaction plays an important role in the relationship between self-control and prosocial behavior. The present study further determined that a high-quality friendship was an important factor that amplified this direct effect.

Theorizing relational people management in micro enterprises: a multi-theoretical perspective

Purpose

This paper offers a theoretical explanation to a positive story of a micro enterprise found in Uganda, an African developing country that has successfully managed workplace relationships, its survival and good performance. Specifically, the paper examines multiple theories to explain the practice in this enterprise.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses storytelling, a form of narrative inquiry embedded in qualitative methodology. Based on in-depth interviews with the owner-manager and employees, a story was developed detailing their practical experience while focusing on the context, actions, results and lessons.

Findings

Findings reveal that micro enterprises that allow free generation of ideas across all levels with optimistic people who reciprocate and work together, create a friendly work atmosphere with support for one another, amicably resolve conflicts and build trust. More so, several theories that include: Social Exchange Theory, Relational Cohesion Theory, Complex Adaptive Systems Theory and Cultural Historical Activity Theory, explain the manifestations of relational people management in micro enterprises.

Originality/value

This paper is unique in its use of a positive story showing a practical experience of how workplace relationships are managed in a micro enterprise found in Uganda, an African developing country. In addition, a multi-theoretical perspective is used to explain the manifestations in the story which may be novel in the study context. Thus, a conceptual model is proposed depicting generalized reciprocity, positive emotions, generative leadership and relational agency as antecedents of relational people management with relational agency again mediating the other relationships.

Dispositional gratitude predicts the development of psychopathology and suicidal behaviors: Results from a 7-year population-based study of U.S. military veterans

BACKGROUND

Dispositional gratitude has been implicated as a psychological characteristic that may modulate risk for mental health outcomes. Using a population-based sample of U.S. military veterans, this study evaluated the association between dispositional gratitude and the development of psychopathology and suicidal behaviors over a 7-year period.

METHODS

A nationally representative sample of U.S. veterans was surveyed at four timepoints across seven years. Analyses were restricted to veterans without incident outcomes at baseline. Multivariable analyses were conducted to examine the relation between baseline levels of dispositional gratitude and risk of developing (a) major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); (b) suicidal ideation; and (c) suicide attempts.

RESULTS

A total 9.6% of veterans developed MDD, GAD, and/or PTSD, 9.5% developed suicidal ideation, and 2.8% reported having attempted suicide over the 7-year follow-up period. Among veterans with high levels of dispositional gratitude, incidence was lower for MDD/GAD/PTSD (8.0%), suicidal ideation (6.8%), and suicide attempts (1.5%). Conversely, veterans with low dispositional gratitude were at substantially higher risk of developing MDD/GAD/PTSD (27.7%), suicidal ideation (33.6%), and suicide attempts (20.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

High dispositional gratitude may help protect against the development of psychopathology and suicidal behaviors in U.S. military veterans, whereas low gratitude may increase risk of developing these outcomes. Collectively, these results support the potential utility of enhancing gratitude as part of primary prevention efforts for veterans, service members, and other populations at heightened risk for adverse mental health outcomes.

Gratitude Strengthens the Relationship Between Leisure Social Support and Self-Rated Health Among Nursing Home Residents

A central outcome indicator of person-oriented services in primary health care is self-rated health (SRH). Therefore, promoting SRH among nursing home residents is valuable. We examined whether demographic variables, gratitude, and leisure social support (LSS) related to SRH, and whether gratitude moderated the relationship between LSS and SRH. To collect demographic information and measure gratitude, LSS, and SRH, we conducted face-to-face interviews with 237 participants from four nursing homes in Taiwan. We used hierarchical regression analysis to examine data. Results demonstrated that duration of residence, gratitude, and LSS predicted SRH, and that gratitude interacted with LSS. We discuss implications of these results in terms of facilitating gratitude to promote SRH among nursing home residents and guiding them to seek sources of LSS. In particular, we further discuss how gratitude strengthens the relationship between LSS and SRH. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 48(2), 23-30.].

Gratitude and Social Media: A Pilot Experiment on the Benefits of Exposure to Others' Grateful Interactions on Facebook

Facebook and other social networking sites allow observation of others’ interactions that in normal, offline life would simply be undetectable (e.g., a two-voice conversation viewable on the Facebook wall, from the perspective of a real, silent witness). Drawing on this specific property, the theory of social learning, and the most direct implications of emotional contagion, our pilot experiment (N = 49) aimed to test whether the exposure to others’ grateful interactions on Facebook enhances (a) users’ felt gratitude, (b) expressed gratitude, and (c) their subjective well-being. For the threefold purpose, we created ad hoc Facebook groups in which the exposure to some accomplices’ exchange of grateful messages for 2 weeks was experimentally manipulated and users’ felt/expressed gratitude and well-being were consequently assessed. Results partially supported both hypotheses. Observing others’ exchange of grateful posts/comments on Facebook appeared to enhance participants’ in-person expression of gratitude (i.e., self-reported gratitude expression within face-to-face interactions), but not their direct and subjective experiences of gratitude. Similarly, exposure to others’ grateful messages improved some components of subjective well-being, such as satisfaction with life, but not negative and positive affect. Taken together, however, our preliminary findings suggest for the first time that social networking sites may actually amplify the spreading of gratitude and its benefits. Implications of our results for professionals and future research in the field of health, education, and social media communication are discussed.

Surprise me! On the impact of unexpected benefits on other-praising gratitude expressions

Gratitude reinforces social bonds. This relationship-regulating function depends on whether and how it is expressed. People can express gratitude in different ways: Beneficiaries may emphasise how they profited from a benefit (self-benefiting) or focus on the benefactor's actions and characteristics related to it (other-praising). What underlies these expressive styles remains unclear. Based on findings that other-praising gratitude expressions have unique positive effects on interpersonal relationships, four studies (N = 1,188) investigated a novel antecedent of these expressions: unexpectedness of the benefit. In Study 1, we content-coded participants' thank-you notes for an actual Christmas present. Path modelling revealed that unexpectedness of the benefit predicted other-praising, whereas happiness with the present predicted self-benefiting. These results were robust to relevant covariates and mirrored by participants' self-reported self-benefiting and other-praising intentions. Studies 2-4 (preregistered) investigated samples from two different populations and experimentally manipulated (un)expectedness of recalled or imagined benefits. Given mixed experimental results, we conducted an internal meta-analysis. Across experimental studies, unexpected benefits increased other-praising, albeit weakly so, but not self-benefiting. In addition, the effect of unexpectedness on other-praising was significantly different from that on self-benefiting. We discuss potential processes and moderators of the effect of unexpected benefits on gratitude expressions.

A model for cognitively-based compassion training: theoretical underpinnings and proposed mechanisms

Across cultures and belief systems, compassion is widely considered to be beneficial for the development of personal and social wellbeing. Research indicates that compassion-training programs have broad health benefits, but how and why compassion-training programs are effective is still relatively unknown. This paper describes the theoretical underpinnings of a specific compassion-training program, CBCT® (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training), and proposes an integrative model that draws on existing health behavior constructs to identify CBCT’s core components and hypothesizes their directionality and interaction. The model includes two primary categories of skill development: (1) intrapersonal skills leading to greater resiliency, and (2) interpersonal skills leading to greater compassion. It is hypothesized that these two pathways are mutually reinforcing and both contribute to greater wellbeing. This model provides a foundation for theory-driven research on the underlying mechanisms in CBCT training. An understanding of CBCT’s mechanisms is a critical step towards optimizing and personalizing the intervention to meet the needs of specific populations.

The Cultivation of Pure Altruism via Gratitude: A Functional MRI Study of Change with Gratitude Practice

Gratitude is an emotion and a trait linked to well-being and better health, and welcoming benefits to oneself is instrumentally valuable. However, theoretical and empirical work highlights that gratitude is more fully understood as an intrinsically valuable moral emotion. To understand the role of neural reward systems in the association between gratitude and altruistic motivations we tested two hypotheses: First, whether self-reported propensity toward gratitude relates to fMRI-derived indicators of "pure altruism," operationalized as the neural valuation of passive, private transfers to a charity versus to oneself. In young adult female participants, self-reported gratitude and altruism were associated with "neural pure altruism" in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and nucleus accumbens. Second, whether neural pure altruism can be increased through practicing gratitude. In a double-blind study, we randomly assigned participants to either a gratitude-journal or active-neutral control journal group for 3 weeks. Relative to pre-test levels, gratitude journaling increased the neural pure altruism response in the VMPFC. We posit that as a context-dependent value-sensitive cortical region, the VMPFC supports change with gratitude practice, a change that is larger for benefits to others versus oneself.