Why is Gratitude Important?

Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson is fond of noting that the human brain is like Teflon for good experiences and Velcro for bad ones. When things are going well in life, the most natural human response is to become accustomed to those good things and begin to take them for granted. Instead of dwelling on what's already going well, the brain is more likely to spend its resources looking out for potential threats to our well-being. If you have a long history of good health, for example, you may not think very often about how wonderful it is to be able to go about your day unimpeded by illness or disability. Instead, your mind may be more occupied with thoughts like "What are these wrinkles around my eyes?" or "Does it look like I have a double chin?" It's easy to forget how good we have it health-wise, until a personal illness or injury (or that of someone near us) serves as a reminder that good health really is a gift. Things could be very different, and not in a good way.

This default orientation to forget what is going well (and focus on what we think may not be) served a purpose in our evolutionary history; it helped our ancestors survive in much more threatening environments than we live in today. It's another example of how the human brain is wired more for surviving than for thriving. That said, we don't have to settle for what our default wiring offers. It's important to understand that our day-to-day well-being can be considerably enhanced by learning not to forget the many fortunate aspects of our circumstances.   

In the research literature, gratitude is one of the personality traits most strongly related to good mental health and overall life satisfaction--more so even than traits such as optimism, compassion, or hopefulness. A wealth of research (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Emmons & Mishra, 2011; Grant & Gino, 2010; Lyubomirsky, 2007) indicates that gratitude is associated with higher levels of happiness, hopefulness, energy, and other positive emotions. Grateful people tend to be more helpful, generous, and forgiving, and have greater empathy toward others. They tend to be less materialistic (i.e., less emphasis placed on material goods; less envious; more likely to share resources with others). Not surprisingly, gratitude is also associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness.

Could it just be the case that people who are happier to begin with are more grateful? There is some evidence that there is a genetic contribution to dispositional gratitude; however, experimental research makes it clear that gratitude can be cultivated, which results in increased happiness and other positive outcomes. For example:

• Emmons and McCullough (2003) asked participants to write down five things they were grateful for (once a week). Compared to participants in a control condition, after 10 weeks these individuals reported more optimism and life satisfaction. Interestingly, they also fared better on a number physical health variables, including fewer headaches and increased exercise.

• Seligman and colleagues (2005) gave participants one week to write and then deliver (in person) a letter of gratitude to someone who had changed their lives for the better, but whom they had never properly thanked. Compared to controls, these individuals reported significantly more happiness and fewer depressive symptoms, with effects lasting at least a month afterwards. See the SoulPancake video below for a nice variation on this study.

• Lyubomirsky (2007) reported results of an intervention in which participants kept a gratitude journal for six weeks (contemplating and writing down things they were grateful for; different groups being assigned different intervals for writing). This simple strategy was effective in increasing thankfulness and appreciation, as well as yielding higher levels of happiness compared to controls. Interestingly, in this study the effect was observed for those who wrote in the gratitude journal once per week, but not for those who were assigned to write more frequently. It may have been that those asked to write more frequently than each week became bored with the practice or accommodated to the routine. An important implication for this finding is ensuring that gratitude activities are carried out with opportunities for variety or novelty (more on this later).

To summarize, research examining the impact of gratitude interventions (e.g., journals, letters, visits) indicates that these simple practices tend to result in small but meaningful improvements in personal well-being (Davis et al., 2016). Watch the following video to see a variation on Seligman's gratitude letter study, and how even a simple exercise like this can be a deeply touching experience for those involved: