The Science behind Daily Gratitude Ritual

Science has only begun verifying what philosophers, theorists, poets, religious and other prominent leaders and writers had been claiming for centuries:

“Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because we will always want to have something else or something more.” -Brother David Steindl-Rast

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” -Denis Waitley

“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” -Eileen Caddy

“Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls” -Aeso

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” - Johannes A. Gaertner

“In the New Testament, religion is grace and ethics is gratitude.” -Thomas Erskine

When positive psychology took off about a decade ago, a new paradigm emerged to guide research in psychology. Nonetheless, very few researchers took pains conducting experiments on the link between gratitude and happiness or wellbeing, many authors and practitioners dealt with this association by documenting case studies and accounts of exceptional individuals living it.

The link between thankfulness and happiness is intuitive and very appealing that it does not occur to most of us to challenge this belief. In fact, we might rather just take it at face value and be happy.

It certainly was in my case, up until I was writing more and telling everybody about it that the scientist, the skeptic in me reasserted itself. “I need to verify the information before going further,” I said to myself even though I have seen and felt the change in me and my family as discussed in a previous blog.

Collaborators from the University of California Davis, University of Miami and Baylor University (see references below) had taken the initial steps to understand the effect of grateful outlook on psychological and physical wellbeing. They hope to eventually learn if there is indeed causation or at least a strong correlation between the two.

A feature of empirical science is ceteris paribus, that is by holding all other factors constant, one would see if the manipulation would indeed produce the hypothesized cause and effect. Studies conducted by the said collaborators randomly assigned the following treatments: gratitude, hassles and control to undergraduate students in two studies done in sequence. The studies differed in the frequency of “treatment application” and the measurement of variables of interest, which was weekly for 10 weeks in the first and daily for 2 weeks in the second study.

Just to appreciate their work, details of the treatments are as follows:

1. Gratitude focused- subjects were asked to list down up to five things that they were thankful for. Examples listed by participants include, “for wonderful parents”, “waking up this morning”, “to the Rolling Stones”.
2. Hassles focused- subjects listed complaints and hassles in life such as parking problems, depleting finances and unappreciative friend.
3. Control- In the first study, the control group was asked to identify neutral life events that impacted them such as flying back home, learning a new technique, and talking about future plans. In Study 2, subjects were asked to compare themselves with others and write down those things that they are better off (downward social comparison). It was noted by the researchers that downward social comparison may seem positive at first, but there could be negative emotional outcome as pride and schadenfreude (pleasure at the misfortune of others) are common reactions.

In addition to the listing, participants were also asked to rate their mood, physical symptoms, reactions to social support received, estimated amount of time spent exercising, how they felt about their lives in the past week (24 hours in Study 2) and their expectations for the coming week (next day in Study 2).

Results in Study 1 indicated significant treatment effect in that those that listed down gratitude felt better about life in general, more optimistic about the coming week, reported less physical complaints and to have spent more time exercising than the other two groups.

With more detailed questionnaire in Study 2, levels of positive affect (attentive, determined, energetic, enthusiastic, excited, interested, joyful, strong) were documented to be significantly higher in the gratitude group than in the hassles group. The gratitude group was significantly more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or offered emotional support, which suggest prosocial motivation as a consequence of the gratitude induction. Reports on physical benefits, however, were not different among groups.

These results were validated in a third study involving 65 persons with neuromuscular diseases who were randomly assigned to gratitude-outlook and control conditions and following daily “treatment application and measurements”.  In addition, gratitude-focused subjects reported better amount and quality of sleep.  The positive impact of gratitude listing was also perceived by spouses (or significant others) of participants.  Unlike Study 1 but similar to Study 2, there was no perceived benefit to gratitude listing in terms of physical health.

When the first two studies were compared, the following were evident:

1. daily listing was more powerful in facilitating gratitude than weekly listing
2. greater effect sizes (on positive affect) was documented in gratitude induction via daily than weekly listing
3. however, reports of time spent exercising as well as physical benefits were not significantly different among groups in daily listing, while the gratitude group reported significantly more positive outcomes in the weekly listing (Study 1), suggesting that somatic effect is more likely detected in periods longer than daily reporting.

The above studies support the claim that a daily gratitude ritual is beneficial to a person’s wellbeing. If privately listing one's blessings at the end of the day can have such a positive effect, I can imagine even better results when done as a group like a family or community because positive interaction is already facilitated and the positivity shared to all members of the group.  Although the studies were limited in duration, these were enough to show that gratitude can be induced in people and with positive outcome. This suggests the possibility that it could be sustained in the long term, especially if daily practice transforms into a habit that could have dramatic effect in a person’s long-lasting positive affect and not just in one’s mood or fleeting emotions. By focusing on blessings daily, people reap emotional and interpersonal benefits that may be sustained indefinitely.

I expect more research on gratitude and wellbeing to be conducted and published, which would result in deeper understanding on what it is that drives people with an attitude of gratitude to be happy as well. It might just be an adaptive psychological strategy, an important process by which people positively interpret everyday experiences. And it is in noticing, appreciating and savoring the elements of one’s life in one’s favor that leads to happiness and wellbeing.

Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377-389.

McCullough, M. E., Tsang, J., & Emmons, R. A. (2004). Gratitude in intermediate affective terrain: Links of grateful moods to individual differences and daily emotional experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 295-309.