Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life.

TLDR

The study examined how a grateful outlook affects psychological and physical well‑being. Participants were randomly assigned to gratitude, hassles, or neutral/social comparison conditions in two diary studies and to gratitude or control in a third study with neuromuscular disease patients, and they recorded weekly or daily moods, coping, health behaviors, symptoms, and life appraisals. Gratitude groups showed greater well‑being on several measures, especially positive affect, indicating that focusing on blessings yields emotional and interpersonal benefits.

Abstract

The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.