EDUC10057 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Barometer
10 Jun 2018
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EDUC10057 – WELLBEING, MOTIVATION, & PERFORMANCE
LECTURE 8 – GRATITUDE
Gratitude: involves acknowledging goodness in one’s life, & recognising that the source of the goodness
lies at least partially outside oneself. Requires effort, motivation, & cognition. Must be other directed
• State / episodic (mood): temporary emotion, occurs after receiving aid perceived as costly, valuable,
& altruistic. Stems from the perception of experiencing a positive outcome intentionally provided
• Trait / dispositional / persistent (virtue): a stable, long-term disposition. A life orientation towards
noticing & appreciating the positive in life, that’s cultivated even when conditions are painful
• Institutional / Collective gratitude: culturally embedded in the organisation
• Importance of gratitude:
• Health benefits: decreased levels of stress, better sleep (quality & quantity), & fewer self-
reported health symptoms
• Psychological benefits: improved life satisfaction & happiness / mood, key factor in Post
Traumatic Growth, correlates with autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose
in life, self-acceptance, & authentic living / low self-alienation, & lower risk of depression,
anxiety, substance abuse, & body image issues
• Social benefits: promotes relationship formation, connection, & satisfaction, willingness to
forgive, greater peer & family support, & lower narcissism
• Interventions:
• Daily listing of things for which to be grateful (gratitude diary)
• Grateful contemplation
• Behavioural expressions of gratitude (gratitude visits)
Moral emotions:
• Empathy + sympathy: motivate prosocial behaviour - cause people to identity with others’ needs
• Guilt: motivate to engage in reparative actions when they feel they’ve damaged someone’s interests
• Gratitude:
• Moral barometer: felt in response to perception that you benefit from another’s moral actions
• Moral motive function: motivates grateful person to act prosocially towards benefactor/others
• Moral reinforcer function: when expressed, prompts benefactors to behave morally in future
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