Beyond Reciprocity: Gratitude and Relationships in Everyday Life the Present Study
Published 2008 · S. Algoe, J. Haidt, Shelly L. Gable
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Abstract
The emotion of gratitude is thought to have social effects, but empirical studies of such effects have focused largely on the repaying of kind gestures. The current research focused on the relational antecedents of gratitude and its implications for relationship formation. The authors examined the role of naturally occurring gratitude in college sororities during a week of gift-giving from older members to new members. New members recorded reactions to benefits received during the week. At the end of the week and 1 month later, the new and old members rated their interactions and their relationships. Perceptions of benefactor responsiveness predicted gratitude for benefits, and gratitude during the week predicted future relationship outcomes. Gratitude may function to promote relationship formation and maintenance. The empirical literature on the emotion of gratitude has much to say about whether grateful individuals will repay a benefactor or a fortunate bystander (e. The link is so strong that repayment behavior has sometimes been taken to imply feelings of gratitude. However, recent research has shown that repayment behavior can also be associated with unpleasant feelings of indebtedness (Watkins, Scheer, Ovnicek, & Kolts, 2006); this evidence suggests a need to revisit assumptions about the situational features of the positive emotion of gratitude. More important, however, apart from this one-time repayment gesture, the empirical literature is silent on the role of gratitude in interpersonal relationships. In this study, we explored aspects of gratitude that lie beyond reciprocity. We suggest that gratitude promotes relationship formation and maintenance. Previous research has suggested that the main ingredients of gratitude are an intentional gesture that is of value to the recipient that benefits bring information about the relationship motivations of the benefactor (Ames, Flynn, & Weber, 2004), we suggest an additional critical appraisal for the emotion of gratitude that is interpersonal in nature: perceived responsiveness to the self (Reis, Clark, & Holmes, 2004). Perceived responsiveness is an appraisal that is associated with feeling understood, valued, and cared for by another individual (Reis et al., 2004). For example, if one gives a gift certificate to a local mall or spends the same amount of money to give a CD that she knows is the recipient's favorite band, the latter better demonstrates responsiveness to one's self. It really is the thought that counts. Conceptualizing gratitude as a positive emotion involving inter-personal appraisals influences consideration of its function. If emotions are social coordinating systems (e.g., Keltner …