Ella Maxwell We all know Thanksgiving is one of the best times to gather round with your loved ones, eat a turkey, and be grateful. It is of course, Thanksgiving. But what David DeSteno brings to light in his article in the New York Times, Why Gratitude is Wasted on Thanksgiving, is that we could use a little less gratitude on this day, and perhaps some more for the rest of the year. Gratitude does a number of wonderful things for us and our relationships, as proven by a small study run by DeSteno. In this experiment he proved a number of things. For one, he was able to prove that having gratitude keeps us more honest. DeSteno and a team of psychologists ran a test, they told people participating in the experiment to flip a coin, and if heads, they would get a money reward. If it was tails, there was no reward. The coin was rigged to always be tails. Those who were asked to count their blessings beforehand cheated at half the rate of those who did not. It is interesting to see what a little perspective will do for your decision making. DeSteno also says that gratitude is important for our generosity. If people participating in the experiment had counted their blessings and were therefore feeling grateful, they were more willing to share money with strangers when it was asked of them. In fact, on average they were 12 percent more likely than those who were not feeling particularly grateful. At this point you may be wondering how this really relates to Thanksgiving. It is unlikely on this day that people will want to “cheat” or be unfriendly. As DeSteno puts it, it just is not very tempting. Still not convinced? Let’s look at a couple more examples on what makes gratitude so important all of the time. Gratitude enhances self-control. Going off of the experiment results I previously explained, those who were grateful after counting their blessings were less inclined to take a small amount of money for themselves in hand, as they were able to focus on their long term investment gains. A final important thing that gratitude does for us is it increases our productivity. In a different study run by psychologists Francesca Gino and Adam Grant, they tested the effect of a boss expressing gratitude to his/her employees at a fund-raising business. By doing so, the efforts of the employees rose 33 percent. That’s awesome! Gratitude can go a long way. Taking a few steps back and seeing the bigger picture will help us to understand how this relates to Thanksgiving. Quite simply, it is easy to be grateful on Thanksgiving. Most are surrounded by those they love and a luxurious meal with a homey setting. On a day designated for giving thanks, it is easy to find these things to be grateful for. What is important is what you do with all of the other days in your year. As I have made clear, being grateful improves our honesty, generosity, productivity, and self-control. Without it, it is easy to lose perspective on life. Not only this, but relationships could not be formed the way they are. We are inclined to get to know people better and form stronger bonds when we are grateful for the way they acted towards us. Without this motive, relationships would be harder. So, as you sit down this Thursday to a Thanksgiving meal and think about all that you are grateful for, keep in mind all the other days of the year you have to be grateful. Happy Turkey Day! Desteno, D. (2019, November 23). Why Gratitude Is Wasted on Thanksgiving. Retrieved November 25, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/23/opinion/sunday/thanksgiving-gratitude.html?searchResultPosition=1 image:https://www.123rf.com/photo_87550453_family-eating-traditional-thanksgiving-turkey-on-a-festive-table-background-roasted-turkey-family-ce.html
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Ms. Carrigan's Psych ClassWe have been reading articles about psychological studies to inform the way we live our lives. Please explore, and we hope you learn a bit about the psychology in your life! Categories
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