Gratitude

Gratitude is a positive emotion, which involves a feeling of emotional indebtedness towards another person; often accompanied by a desire to thank them, or to reciprocate for a favour they have done for you. In a religious context, gratitude can also refer to a feeling of indebtedness towards a deity, e.g. God in Christianity. The gratitude that Christians feel toward the God of the Bible is mainly because "...God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son; that whomever shall believe in Him shall not perish, but shall have ever-lasting life immortality". (John 3:16)

Related Topics:
Emotion - God - Christianity - Immortality

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Psychological research has demonstrated that individuals are more likely to experience gratitude when they receive a favor that is perceived to be (1) valued by the recipient, (2) costly to the benefactor, (3) given by the benefactor with benevolent intentions, and (4) given gratuitously (rather than out of role-based obligations) (e.g., Bar-Tal, Bar-Zohar, Greenberg, & Hermon, 1977; Graham, 1988; Lane & Anderson, 1976; Tesser, Gatewood, & Driver, 1968).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Research has also suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to subjective emotional well-being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). In people who are grateful in general, life events have little influence on experienced gratitude (McCullough, Tsang & Emmons, 2004).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Compare with feelings of obligation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~