Gratitude and Prosocial Behavior

The ability of the emotion gratitude to shape costly prosocial behavior was examined in three studies employing interpersonal emotion inductions and requests for assistance. Study 1 demonstrated that gratitude increases efforts to assist a benefactor even when such efforts are costly (i.e., hedonically negative), and that this increase differs from the effects of a general positive affective state. Additionally, mediational analyses revealed that gratitude, as opposed to simple awareness of reciprocity norms, drove helping behavior. Furthering the theory that gratitude mediates prosocial behavior, Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 and demonstrated gratitude’s ability to function as an incidental emotion by showing it can increase assistance provided to strangers. Study 3 revealed that this incidental effect dissipates if one is made aware of the true cause of the emotional state. Implications of these findings for the role of gratitude in building relationships are discussed. Gratitude is the positive emotion one feels when another person has intentionally given, or attempted to give, one something of value (McCullough, Kilpatrick, Emmons, & Larson, 2001; McCullough & Tsang, 2004). For centuries, thinkers from various disciplines have believed this emotion to be essential for building and preserving social relationships, so much so that gratitude has been labeled ‘‘not only the best, but the parent of all other virtues’’ (Cicero, 1851, p. 139), ‘‘the moral memory of mankind’’ (Simmel, 1908/1996, p. 45), and the ‘‘sentiment which most immediately and directly prompts us to reward’’ (Smith, 1790/1976, p. 68). In line with these earlier writers’ assertions, several theorists, ourselves included, believe that gratitude functions to nurture social relationships through its encouragement of reciprocal, prosocial behavior between a benefactor and recipient (Algoe & Haidt, 2004; Emmons & McCullough, 2004). An important part of relationship construction is overcoming what the economist Robert Frank (1988) has labeled the commitment problem. That is, individuals must overcome the worry that they will expend time and resources building a relationship only to receive little or nothing in return. For instance, when deciding whether to enter into a social exchange or economic partnership, one must determine how likely the other person is to uphold his or her end of the bargain. Emotions, such as gratitude, guilt, and love, may play a pivotal role in building trust by encouraging one to adopt behaviors that support the partnership even when such behaviors are costly to oneself in the short term (Baumeister, Stillwell, & Heatherton, 1994; Frank, 1988; Gonzaga, Keltner, Londahl, & Smith, 2001). For social beings, negotiating such interpersonal decisions is as important to survival as is navigating the physical landscape (e.g., avoiding predators, securing food). From a functionalist view, emotions motivate individuals to behave in ways that help them solve challenges of adaptive import. Accordingly, emotions should help guide decisions about social exchange in a social species (Keltner & Haidt, 1999). We expect that gratitude functions to encourage an individual to reciprocate a favor, even if such reciprocation will be costly to him or her in the short term. We also expect that over time, this reciprocal prosocial behavior aids in building trust and, consequently, preserving relationships. In accord with this view, recent research has shown that individuals who report habitually experiencing gratitude engage more frequently in prosocial behaviors than do individuals who experience gratitude less often (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002). Although congruent with the proposed link between gratitude and prosocial behavior, such correlational findings do Address correspondence to Monica Bartlett or David DeSteno, Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]. PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Volume 17—Number 4 319 Copyright r 2006 Association for Psychological Science not offer conclusive evidence for gratitude as a mediator of prosocial action, especially within the context of short-term costly behavior. To make a strong case for this assertion, a laboratory paradigm in which gratitude is manipulated and helping behavior assessed in a controlled interaction is necessary to disambiguate gratitude’s proposed impact from many other potential causal forces (e.g., idiographic factors, prosocial norms). If one is to make a functional argument for the emotion gratitude, evidence directly linking manipulated differences in its intensity to prosocial behavior is required (McCullough et al., 2002). That emotional states can mediate helping behavior is not a novel idea. Much previous research has documented that positive moods can increase prosocial responding (e.g., Carlson, Charlin, & Miller, 1988; Isen & Levin, 1972). However, this effect is known to be limited by hedonic constraints; it holds only as long as the requested help is not costly to the helper. For example, when complying with a request for help would knowingly ruin their good mood, individuals in a positive state have been shown to be less willing to help than those not experiencing an emotional state (Isen & Simmonds, 1978). As noted, however, it is beneficial to forgo one’s short-term self-interest at times, such as when one wants to build or maintain a long-term relationship. Accordingly, it is our view that the purpose of gratitude is to encourage prosocial acts toward one’s benefactor, even if those acts are costly to oneself at the moment. Therefore, gratitude’s influence on decisions to help should be distinct from the influence of a general positive affective state. Beyond showing that gratitude facilitates helping behavior in a manner different from the way general positive states influence helping behavior, it is also necessary to distinguish the effect of gratitude from that of the reciprocity norm (i.e., cognitive awareness that one should repay another person who has provided assistance). Historically, psychologists have attributed much reciprocal prosocial behavior to awareness of this social norm (e.g., Pruitt, 1968; Walster, Berscheid, & Walster, 1973; Wilke & Lanzetta, 1970). Although the bulk of research on the reciprocity norm has not assessed participants’ emotional states, and consequently cannot determine the role of affective responding in adherence to this norm, it is not our assertion that a purely cognitive response is incapable of leading to prosocial behavior. Rather, we argue that under certain circumstances, gratitude can facilitate prosocial behavior in a way that a social norm isolated from emotional reactions cannot.