Authors
Elliott Kruse, Joseph Chancellor, Peter M Ruberton, Sonja Lyubomirsky
Publication date
2014/9
Journal
Social psychological and personality Science
Volume
5
Issue
7
Pages
805-814
Publisher
Sage Publications
Description
In two experiments and one diary study, we examined the relationship between self- and other-oriented processes by considering how gratitude can influence humility and vice versa. Humility is characterized by low self-focus, secure sense of self, and increased valuation of others. Gratitude is marked by a sense that one has benefited from the actions of another. In the first experiment, participants who wrote a gratitude letter showed higher state humility than those who performed a neutral activity. In the second experiment, baseline state humility predicted the amount of gratitude felt after writing a gratitude letter compared to a neutral activity. Finally, in a 14-day diary study, humility and gratitude mutually predicted one another, even after controlling for the other’s prior level. Our results suggest that humility and gratitude are mutually reinforcing.
Scholar articles
E Kruse, J Chancellor, PM Ruberton, S Lyubomirsky - Social psychological and personality Science, 2014