The Grateful Disposition: A Conceptual and Empirical Topography
Michael E. McCullough
Southern Methodist University
Robert A. Emmons
University of California, Davis
Jo-Ann Tsang
Southern Methodist University
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study 1 revealed
that self-ratings and observer ratings of the grateful disposition are associated with positive affect and
well-being, prosocial behaviors and traits, and religiousness/spirituality. Study 2 replicated these findings
in a large nonstudent sample. Study 3 yielded similar results to Studies 1 and 2 and provided evidence
that gratitude is negatively associated with envy and materialistic attitudes. Study 4 yielded evidence that
these associations persist after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity, Neuroticism/negative
affectivity, and Agreeableness. The development of the Gratitude Questionnaire, a unidimensional
measure with good psychometric properties, is also described.
Gratitude, as it were, is the moral memory of mankind.
—Georg Simmel
The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving more
benefits.
—La Rochefoucauld
Despite centuries of reflection, scholars in the humanities continue
to debate whether the disposition to be grateful is a trait
worthy of admiration or of contempt. In one camp, philosophers
such as Seneca, Adam Smith, and Georg Simmel have praised the
value of a grateful disposition for individual and social well-being.
In another, figures such as Aristotle, Epicurus, and La Rochefoucauld
have concluded that manifestations of gratitude are no more
than thin veils over human beings’ self-interest, or messy emotional
ties that make people unnecessarily beholden to their benefactors
(Harpham, 2000; Roberts, 2000).
Psychologists have done little to contribute to this centuries-old
debate (McCullough, Kilpatrick, Emmons, & Larson, 2001). However,
psychology’s inattention to gratitude belies the considerable
individual differences in gratitude of which laypersons are aware.
People easily call to mind individuals in their lives who seem to be
grateful almost to a fault and others who seem perfectly qualified
for the infamous label “ingrate.” Are these individual differences
real? Do people who consider themselves grateful also appear
grateful to others? What are the typical characteristics of people
who demonstrate a grateful disposition? What is the relationship of
gratitude to measures of affect, prosociality, and spirituality? Psychology
is perfectly positioned to help illuminate the nature of
gratitude and its place in human functioning.
Gratitude as an Affective Trait
Rosenberg (1998) proposed that the common forms of affective
experience could be structured hierarchically according to specificity,
temporal stability, pervasiveness in consciousness, and effects
on other psychological systems. Rosenberg placed affective
traits, defined as “stable predispositions toward certain types of
emotional responding” that “set the threshold for the occurrence of
particular emotional states” (p. 249) at the top of the hierarchy. She
considered moods, which “wax and wane, fluctuating throughout
or across days” (p. 250), as subordinate to affective traits, and
emotions, which are “acute, intense, and typically brief psychophysiological
changes that result from a response to a meaningful
situation in one’s environment” (p. 250), as subordinate to both
affective traits and moods.
Gratitude, like other affects, conceivably could exist as an
affective trait, a mood, or an emotion. The present article is
concerned primarily with gratitude as an affective trait that we call
the grateful disposition or disposition toward gratitude. We define
the grateful disposition as a generalized tendency to recognize and
respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people’s benevolence
in the positive experiences and outcomes that one
obtains.
Facets of the Grateful Disposition
Affective traits lower one’s threshold for experiencing certain
emotional states (Rosenberg, 1998). For example, hostility lowers
Michael E. McCullough and Jo-Ann Tsang, Department of Psychology,
Southern Methodist University; Robert A. Emmons, Department of Psychology,
University of California, Davis.
This research was generously supported by a grant from the John
Templeton Foundation. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Robert
Scott and Spirituality and Health magazine, and Lori Aveni and
Stephan Sain with the collection and management of data for Study 2.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Michael
E. McCullough, Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University,
P.O. Box 750442, Dallas, Texas 75275-0442, or to Robert A. Emmons,
Department of Psychology, University of California, 1 Shields
Avenue, Davis, California 95616. E-mail: mikem@mail.smu.edu or
raemmons@ucdavis.edu
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
2002, Vol. 82, No. 1, 112–127 0022-3514/02/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.82.1.112
112
the threshold for experiencing anger. Insofar as the grateful disposition
creates a reduced threshold for recognizing and responding
with gratitude to the role of other people’s benevolence in
one’s positive outcomes, this disposition might cause several discrete
emotional experiences. We use the term facets to refer to the
following elements of the grateful disposition rather than the term
dimensions because we suspect that these elements are not distinct
or independent but, rather, co-occur.
The first facet of the grateful disposition can be called intensity.
A dispositionally grateful person who experienced a positive event
is expected to feel more intensely grateful than would someone
less disposed toward gratitude. A second facet can be called
frequency. A dispositionally grateful person might report feeling
grateful many times each day, and gratitude might be elicited by
even the simplest favor or act of politeness. Conversely, for
someone less disposed toward gratitude, gratitude would be experienced
less frequently. A third facet can be called span. Gratitude
span refers to the number of life circumstances for which a person
feels grateful at a given time. Dispositionally grateful people might
be expected to feel grateful for their families, their jobs, their
health, and life itself, along with a variety of other benefits. People
less disposed to gratitude might experience gratitude for fewer
aspects of their lives. A fourth facet can be called density, which
refers to the number of persons to whom one feels grateful for a
single positive outcome. When asked to whom one feels grateful
for a certain outcome (say, obtaining a good job), a dispositionally
grateful person might list many other people, including parents,
friends, family, and mentors. Someone less disposed toward gratitude
might feel grateful to fewer people for the same outcome.
The Grateful Disposition and Attributional Breadth
The grateful disposition is not merely a tendency to experience
a particular affect (i.e., gratitude); it also emerges from particular
attributions regarding the causes of one’s positive outcomes.
Weiner (1986) proposed that gratitude became distinct from happiness
through a two-step process. First, people recognize that they
have obtained a positive outcome, which causes happiness. Second,
people attribute their happiness to an external source (viz.,
another person who acted intentionally), and consequently, happiness
is labeled as gratitude. Thus, attributions are central to gratitude,
and attributional style may be central to the disposition
toward gratitude.
Attribution theory in its basic (e.g., Weiner, 1986, 1995) and
clinical (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) formulations
sets the stage for hypotheses regarding the attributional style of
dispositionally grateful people. Weiner’s (1986) insights lead to
the hypothesis that dispositionally grateful people tend to attribute
their positive outcomes to the effort of other people. Correspondingly,
dispositionally grateful people might seem less likely to
attribute their successes and good fortune to their own efforts or
positive qualities, and thus, more prone to the psychological difficulties
associated with the externalizing attributional style (e.g.,
Abramson et al., 1978; Gladstone & Kaslow, 1995).
However, the fact that grateful people tend to recognize the
benevolence of other people in their positive outcomes does not
necessarily mean that they discount their own causal effort. Instead,
what might distinguish grateful people is an ability to stretch
their attributions to incorporate the wide range of people who
contribute to their well-being. The thirteenth century theologian
and philosopher Thomas Aquinas (cited in Harpham, 2000) observed
that recognizing the many people who contribute to one’s
positive outcomes was essential to gratitude:
The nature of a debt to be paid must needs vary according to various
causes giving rise to the debt, yet so that the greater always includes
the lesser. Now the cause of debt is found primarily and chiefly in
God, in that He is the first principle of all our goods: secondarily it is
found in our father, because he is the proximate principle of our
begetting and upbringing: thirdly it is found in the person that excels
in dignity, from which general favors proceed; fourthly it is found in
a benefactor, from whom we have received particular and private
favors, on account of which we are under particular obligation to him.
(Summa Theologica, Question 106, Article 1)
Consider two successful Olympic swimmers—one more and
one less dispositionally grateful. The grateful swimmer would, no
doubt, recognize her own effort in obtaining an Olympic gold
medal. However, because of her grateful disposition, she may also
recognize other people’s benevolent contributions to her success in
addition to her own ef
The Grateful Disposition: A Conceptual and Empirical Topography
Michael E. McCullough
Southern Methodist University
Robert A. Emmons
University of California, Davis
Jo-Ann Tsang
Southern Methodist University
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study 1 revealed
that self-ratings and observer ratings of the grateful disposition are associated with positive affect and
well-being, prosocial behaviors and traits, and religiousness/spirituality. Study 2 replicated these findings
in a large nonstudent sample. Study 3 yielded similar results to Studies 1 and 2 and provided evidence
that gratitude is negatively associated with envy and materialistic attitudes. Study 4 yielded evidence that
these associations persist after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity, Neuroticism/negative
affectivity, and Agreeableness. The development of the Gratitude Questionnaire, a unidimensional
measure with good psychometric properties, is also described.
Gratitude, as it were, is the moral memory of mankind.
—Georg Simmel
The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving more
benefits.
—La Rochefoucauld
Despite centuries of reflection, scholars in the humanities continue
to debate whether the disposition to be grateful is a trait
worthy of admiration or of contempt. In one camp, philosophers
such as Seneca, Adam Smith, and Georg Simmel have praised the
value of a grateful disposition for individual and social well-being.
In another, figures such as Aristotle, Epicurus, and La Rochefoucauld
have concluded that manifestations of gratitude are no more
than thin veils over human beings’ self-interest, or messy emotional
ties that make people unnecessarily beholden to their benefactors
(Harpham, 2000; Roberts, 2000).
Psychologists have done little to contribute to this centuries-old
debate (McCullough, Kilpatrick, Emmons, & Larson, 2001). However,
psychology’s inattention to gratitude belies the considerable
individual differences in gratitude of which laypersons are aware.
People easily call to mind individuals in their lives who seem to be
grateful almost to a fault and others who seem perfectly qualified
for the infamous label “ingrate.” Are these individual differences
real? Do people who consider themselves grateful also appear
grateful to others? What are the typical characteristics of people
who demonstrate a grateful disposition? What is the relationship of
gratitude to measures of affect, prosociality, and spirituality? Psychology
is perfectly positioned to help illuminate the nature of
gratitude and its place in human functioning.
Gratitude as an Affective Trait
Rosenberg (1998) proposed that the common forms of affective
experience could be structured hierarchically according to specificity,
temporal stability, pervasiveness in consciousness, and effects
on other psychological systems. Rosenberg placed affective
traits, defined as “stable predispositions toward certain types of
emotional responding” that “set the threshold for the occurrence of
particular emotional states” (p. 249) at the top of the hierarchy. She
considered moods, which “wax and wane, fluctuating throughout
or across days” (p. 250), as subordinate to affective traits, and
emotions, which are “acute, intense, and typically brief psychophysiological
changes that result from a response to a meaningful
situation in one’s environment” (p. 250), as subordinate to both
affective traits and moods.
Gratitude, like other affects, conceivably could exist as an
affective trait, a mood, or an emotion. The present article is
concerned primarily with gratitude as an affective trait that we call
the grateful disposition or disposition toward gratitude. We define
the grateful disposition as a generalized tendency to recognize and
respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people’s benevolence
in the positive experiences and outcomes that one
obtains.
Facets of the Grateful Disposition
Affective traits lower one’s threshold for experiencing certain
emotional states (Rosenberg, 1998). For example, hostility lowers
Michael E. McCullough and Jo-Ann Tsang, Department of Psychology,
Southern Methodist University; Robert A. Emmons, Department of Psychology,
University of California, Davis.
This research was generously supported by a grant from the John
Templeton Foundation. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Robert
Scott and Spirituality and Health magazine, and Lori Aveni and
Stephan Sain with the collection and management of data for Study 2.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Michael
E. McCullough, Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University,
P.O. Box 750442, Dallas, Texas 75275-0442, or to Robert A. Emmons,
Department of Psychology, University of California, 1 Shields
Avenue, Davis, California 95616. E-mail: mikem@mail.smu.edu or
raemmons@ucdavis.edu
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
2002, Vol. 82, No. 1, 112–127 0022-3514/02/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.82.1.112
112
the threshold for experiencing anger. Insofar as the grateful disposition
creates a reduced threshold for recognizing and responding
with gratitude to the role of other people’s benevolence in
one’s positive outcomes, this disposition might cause several discrete
emotional experiences. We use the term facets to refer to the
following elements of the grateful disposition rather than the term
dimensions because we suspect that these elements are not distinct
or independent but, rather, co-occur.
The first facet of the grateful disposition can be called intensity.
A dispositionally grateful person who experienced a positive event
is expected to feel more intensely grateful than would someone
less disposed toward gratitude. A second facet can be called
frequency. A dispositionally grateful person might report feeling
grateful many times each day, and gratitude might be elicited by
even the simplest favor or act of politeness. Conversely, for
someone less disposed toward gratitude, gratitude would be experienced
less frequently. A third facet can be called span. Gratitude
span refers to the number of life circumstances for which a person
feels grateful at a given time. Dispositionally grateful people might
be expected to feel grateful for their families, their jobs, their
health, and life itself, along with a variety of other benefits. People
less disposed to gratitude might experience gratitude for fewer
aspects of their lives. A fourth facet can be called density, which
refers to the number of persons to whom one feels grateful for a
single positive outcome. When asked to whom one feels grateful
for a certain outcome (say, obtaining a good job), a dispositionally
grateful person might list many other people, including parents,
friends, family, and mentors. Someone less disposed toward gratitude
might feel grateful to fewer people for the same outcome.
The Grateful Disposition and Attributional Breadth
The grateful disposition is not merely a tendency to experience
a particular affect (i.e., gratitude); it also emerges from particular
attributions regarding the causes of one’s positive outcomes.
Weiner (1986) proposed that gratitude became distinct from happiness
through a two-step process. First, people recognize that they
have obtained a positive outcome, which causes happiness. Second,
people attribute their happiness to an external source (viz.,
another person who acted intentionally), and consequently, happiness
is labeled as gratitude. Thus, attributions are central to gratitude,
and attributional style may be central to the disposition
toward gratitude.
Attribution theory in its basic (e.g., Weiner, 1986, 1995) and
clinical (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) formulations
sets the stage for hypotheses regarding the attributional style of
dispositionally grateful people. Weiner’s (1986) insights lead to
the hypothesis that dispositionally grateful people tend to attribute
their positive outcomes to the effort of other people. Correspondingly,
dispositionally grateful people might seem less likely to
attribute their successes and good fortune to their own efforts or
positive qualities, and thus, more prone to the psychological difficulties
associated with the externalizing attributional style (e.g.,
Abramson et al., 1978; Gladstone & Kaslow, 1995).
However, the fact that grateful people tend to recognize the
benevolence of other people in their positive outcomes does not
necessarily mean that they discount their own causal effort. Instead,
what might distinguish grateful people is an ability to stretch
their attributions to incorporate the wide range of people who
contribute to their well-being. The thirteenth century theologian
and philosopher Thomas Aquinas (cited in Harpham, 2000) observed
that recognizing the many people who contribute to one’s
positive outcomes was essential to gratitude:
The nature of a debt to be paid must needs vary according to various
causes giving rise to the debt, yet so that the greater always includes
the lesser. Now the cause of debt is found primarily and chiefly in
God, in that He is the first principle of all our goods: secondarily it is
found in our father, because he is the proximate principle of our
begetting and upbringing: thirdly it is found in the person that excels
in dignity, from which general favors proceed; fourthly it is found in
a benefactor, from whom we have received particular and private
favors, on account of which we are under particular obligation to him.
(Summa Theologica, Question 106, Article 1)
Consider two successful Olympic swimmers—one more and
one less dispositionally grateful. The grateful swimmer would, no
doubt, recognize her own effort in obtaining an Olympic gold
medal. However, because of her grateful disposition, she may also
recognize other people’s benevolent contributions to her success in
addition to her own ef
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