Dr Blaire Morgan, Dr Liz Gulliford and Professor Kristján Kristjánsson have had a paper titled “Gratitude in the U.K: A new prototype analysis and a cross-cultural comparison” published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.
Positive psychology is about scientifically informed perspectives on what makes life worth living. It focuses on aspects of the human condition that lead to happiness, fulfilment, and flourishing. The Journal of Positive Psychology provides an interdisciplinary and international forum for the science and application of positive psychology. The Journal brings together leading work in positive psychology undertaken by researchers across different sub-disciplines within psychology, as well as across other social and behavioural disciplines. Please find the abstract below:
Abstract: The present research examined gratitude in the UK, contrasted features of gratitude with those identified in the USA, and explored whether gratitude is associated with virtue. In three studies, we demonstrated that gratitude is prototypically organized; that there are cross-cultural differences between UK and US descriptions of gratitude; and that judgments of gratitude are closely related to judgments of virtue. Study 1 demonstrated that the frequencies of negative attributes are considerably greater in the UK than in the USA. We suggest that gratitude has a common core with culturally ubiquitous features, but also socially constructed elements specific to individual cultures. Study 2 noted discrepancies between centrality and frequency ratings. We propose that prototype analyses should consider both intuitive frequency ratings and the deliberative processes involved in assessing centrality. In Study 3, we noted a significant correlation between judgments of gratitude and judgments of virtue, suggesting the two are intrinsically linked.
The full article can be found here.