About these endnotes

This is where we provide references and in-depth information about everything in the Gratitude playbook.

Acknowledgements

We honor and thank the scientists whose research inspired this Playbook. In particular, we thank Giacomo Bono for his exceptionally helpful comments. Any errors or omissions are ours.

How we define this strength

Gratitude comes from the realization that you’ve received something positive and, in addition, that someone other than you was the cause (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).

Gratitude is among the most commonly endorsed character strengths. Across 54 different nations, gratitude was endorsed more strongly than 20 other strengths, superseded only by kindness, fairness and honesty (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2006).

Some scientists argue that gratitude does not require recognizing a specific benefactor. For example, you might be grateful because you woke up this morning. Accordingly, gratitude is sometimes conceived as a tendency to notice and appreciate good things in the world (Wood, Froh, & Geraghty, 2010). Regardless, feeling grateful makes us want to be generous towards, and build relationships with, our perceived benefactors as well as other people (Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008).

Look around, look around

See Miranda (2015). Lin-Manuel Miranda is the American composer, playwright, and actor who created the record-breaking, precedent-setting Broadway hit Hamilton. Miranda has won Pulitzer, Tony, Grammy and Emmy awards. He is also a MacArthur Fellow.

Especially when it is heartfelt rather than a reflexive throw-away

How grateful we feel depends on how we interpret beneficial acts. Specifically, we feel more grateful to people when they do things we believe are valuable, provided at some sacrifice, and motivated by altruism (Wood, Maltby, Stewart, Linley, & Joseph, 2008).

You strengthen your relationships with other people

Gratitude is important not only for maintaining relationships (Gordon, Impett, Kogan, Oveis,& Keltner, 2012; Lambert, Clark, Durtschi, Fincham, & Graham, 2010) but also for building new, stronger and higher-quality relationships (Algoe, 2012; Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008).

Grateful people are happier and more fulfilled

A plethora of studies confirms the layman’s intuition that the disposition to experience gratitude is associated with well-being, that is with life satisfaction, happiness or optimism (Davis et al., 2016; Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Renshaw & Olinger Steeves, 2016; Wood, Froh, & Geraghty, 2010).

Nicer to other people

A meta-analysis of 91 studies shows a statistical significant association between gratitude and prosocial intentions and behaviors: grateful people are more likely to actively promote the wellbeing of others (Ma, Tunney, & Ferguson, 2017), even when helping is costly or the beneficiary is a stranger. (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006; Tsang, 2006).

How do I encourage gratitude in others?

For related ideas, see Froh, J. J., Bono, G., Fan, J., Emmons, R. A., Henderson, K., Harris, C., … & Wood, A. M. (2014). Nice thinking! An educational intervention that teaches children to think gratefully. School Psychology Review, 43(2), 132-152. For more inspiration, see Froh and Bono (2014).

Gratitude Letter

Writing a Gratitude Letter increases well-being, and benefits are enhanced by reading the letter to the person you’re thanking. (Kumar & Epley, 2018; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005; Toepfer, Cichy, & Peters, 2012; Watkins, Woodward, Stone, & Kolts, 2003). This applies to adolescents as well (Froh, Kashdan, Ozimkowski, & Miller, 2009).

Gratitude Journal

Evidence that writing about your blessings can increase psychological and physical well-being dates to a seminal investigation by Emmons and McCullough (2003). Compared to writing about hassles or either neutral events or social comparisons, writing about blessings heightened positive emotion, optimism about the future, and time spent exercising while reducing the number of self-reported health problems (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). These benefits have since been confirmed by other researchers (Wood, Froh, & Geraghty, 2010). While the majority of research on gratitude has focused on adults, there is also evidence that when adolescents keep a gratitude journal, they become more academically engaged and, in addition, feel more grateful, optimistic, and satisfied with their lives (Froh, Emmons, Card, Bono, & Wilson, 2011; Froh, Sefick, & Emmons, 2008).

We are all more blind

See Lorde and Clarke, 1984, p.31. Audre Lorde was an American writer, feminist, womanist and civil rights activist.

Three Good Things

Completing the Three Good Things activity for one week has been shown to increase happiness for at least six months (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). Compared to keeping a Gratitude Journal, listing three specific good things that happened during the day can help prevent “gratitude fatigue,” the paradoxical finding that writing about blessings every day seems to be less effective than writing about blessings only three times per week (Emmons, 2013; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005).