Assessing the effectiveness of gratitude in enhancing happiness: An Eastern Perspective

Pages: 381-384
Megha Dhillon (Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, New Delhi)
Garima Srivastava (Aryabhatta College, University of Delhi, New Delhi)

The cultivation of gratitude has a long history in Eastern spiritual traditions, particularly Buddhism. In the Mangala Sutta, Gautam Buddha declared gratitude to be one of the highest blessings and a sign of ethical and spiritual progress in human beings. Modern research has also suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to one’s well being. However, much of this research has taken place in Western settings. This study was an attempt to experimentally assess the efficacy of a gratitude-based exercise for increasing the subjective well-being of Indian college going females (n= 204). The participants were randomly divided into three groups. The ‘gratitude group’ was asked to list five things they felt grateful about, everyday for one week. The ‘hassles group’ had to list five things that they felt bothered about while the ‘control group’ had to write five things they did during the day. The impact of engaging in these exercises was statistically assessed by comparing the pre-intervention and post-intervention means of each group on three variables constituting subjective well-being namely negative affect, positive affect and life satisfaction. It was found that the gratitude group experienced beneficial outcomes for all three variables. The hassles and control groups did not experience such benefits. The results indicate that this intervention provides a cost and resource effective means for increasing feelings of well-being among young women.