Ayesha Malik

Synopsis

Contents
Title
Objectives
Introduction
Historical Background
Theoretical Background
Empirical Background
Significance of the Study
Method
Hypothesis
Operational Definitions
Participants
Demographic Characteristics
Research Tools
Statistical Analysis
References

Title
Role of Gratitude in Psychological Well-being
Objectives
To examine the effect of gratitude on psychological well-being
Introduction
What is Gratitude?
Robert Emmons, perhaps the worlds leading scientific expert on gratitude, argues that gratitude
has two key components, which he describes in a Greater Good essay, Why Gratitude Is Good.
First, he writes, its an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the
world, gifts and benefits weve received.
In the second part of gratitude, he explains, we recognize that the sources of this goodness are
outside of ourselves.
Gratitude encourages us not only to appreciate gifts but to repay them (or pay them forward), the
sociologist Georg Simmel called it the moral memory of mankind.
Historical Background
An early attempt to define well-being was Bradburns (1969) classic research on psychological
well-being. His work marked a move away from the diagnosis of psychiatric cases to the study
of psychological reactions of ordinary people in their daily lives. His discussion was raised from

his interest in how individuals coped with the daily difficulties that they faced. Bradburn
highlighted how psychological well-being (which he also referred to as happiness) was the
variable that stands out as being of primary importance.
Gratitude is most simply defined as being aware of and thankful for the good things that
happen (Park & Peterson, 2006a, p. 894).
While moral philosophers and religious thinkers have recognized gratitude as being beneficial to
experiencing a happy and good life for centuries, scientific researchers have only recently begun
to systematically study gratitude (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).
Theoretical Background
Life orientation concept of gratitude
This theory suggested that at the dispositional level, gratitude is part of a wider life orientation
towards noticing and appreciating the positive in the world. This life orientation should be
distinct from other emotions such as optimism, hope, and trust .Whilst these may involve life
orientations, these would not characteristically be towards noticing and appreciating the positive
in life, with, for example, optimism representing a life orientation towards expecting future
outcomes (Carver et al., this issue), and hope incorporating this focus as well as tendency to see
the pathways through which these positive outcomes can be reached (Geraghty, Wood, &
Hyland, 2010).
Empirical Background
Association with well-being:

A large body of recent work has suggested that people who are more grateful have higher levels
of well-being. Grateful people are happier, less depressed, less stressed, and more satisfied with
their lives and social relationships. Grateful people also have higher levels of control of their
environments, personal growth, purpose in life, and self acceptance. Grateful people have more
positive ways of coping with the difficulties they experience in life, being more likely to seek
support from other people, reinterpret and grow from the experience, and spend more time
planning how to deal with the problem. Grateful people also have less negative coping strategies,
being less likely to try to avoid the problem, deny there is a problem, blame themselves, or cope
through substance use. Grateful people sleep better, and this seems to be because they think less
negative and more positive thoughts just before going to sleep.
Significance of Study
Its major purpose will be to gain a better understanding of psychological well-being. This
research will help others better understand the role of gratitude in well-being & help them to
enhance there feeling of gratitude.
Method
Survey method would be used in this study.
Hypothesis
Gratitude will be positively related with psychological well-being.

Operational Definitions
Gratitude
Gratitude has been defined as a sense of thankfulness and joy in response to receiving a gift,
whether the gift be a tangible benefit from a specific other or a moment of peaceful bliss evoked
by natural beauty (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p. 554).
Psychological Well-being
Shek (1992) defines psychological well-being as that state of mentally healthy person who
possesses a number of positive mental health qualities such as active adjustment to the
environment, & unity of personality.
Participants
I will take the data from 30 males & 30 female university students. Formal permission will also
be taken from different universities. My participants will be the students of different universities.
Before the administration, participants will be briefed about the nature and purpose of the study.
Rapport will be established with the respondents assuring them of confidentiality of their
personal information to elicit their true responses. They will be assured that their personal
information would be used for research purpose exclusively. A consent form will also be taken
from each participant.
Research Design

Correlation method will be used in order to study the relationship between gratitude & wellbeing.
Demographic Characteristics
Gender: Male & Female
Age: 20-25 years
Education
Number of Siblings
Parents Income
Status
Research Tools:
I will be using the following instruments in my research:
a) Demographic Characteristics Form
b) The gratitude questionnaire-Six item form (GQ-6)
c) Ryffs Psychological Well-Being Scales (PWB) 42 item
a) Demographic Characteristics Form
Demographic characteristics of participants included general questions
regarding age, gender, marital status, employment status, parents income,
no. of siblings and education.
b) The gratitude questionnaire-Six item form (GQ-6)
The gratitude questionnaire is a short six-item self-report questionnaire which
is designed to access individual differences in the experience of gratitude in
daily life. The authors of this scale are McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., &
Tsang, J. It was developed in 2001. The items access experiences &

expressions of gratefulness & appreciation in daily life as well as feelings of

others. Participants answer 6 items on a 1-7 scale.
This scale is Likert type scale containing 7 points. The response options are
as follows:
1= Strongly Disagree
2= Disagree
3= Slightly Disagree
4= Neutral
5= Slightly Agree
6= Agree
7= Strongly Agree
Two items are reverse-scored to reduce response bias. The GQ-6 has good
internal reliability, with alphas between .82 and .87, and there is evidence
that the GQ-6 is positively related to optimism, life satisfaction, hope,
spirituality and religiousness, forgiveness, empathy and prosocial behavior,
and negatively related to depression, anxiety, materialism and jealousy. The
GQ-6 takes less than 5 minutes to complete, but there is no time limit.
It also has inter-item consistency. Cronbachs alpha estimate for the six item
total have ranged from .76 to .84 (McCllough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002; Tsang
c)

& Emmons, 2002)

Ryffs Psychological Well-Being Scales (PWB) 42 item
The Ryff is a straightforward scale that assesses the psychological component
of well-being. The Ryff inventory consists of either 84 questions (long form)
or 54 questions (medium form). There is also a short form, but it is
statistically unreliable and therefore should not be used for assessment. Both
the long and medium forms consist of a series of statements related to the
six areas of psychological well-being: autonomy, environmental mastery,
personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and selfacceptance. Respondents rate statements on a scale of 1 to 6, with 1
indicating strong disagreement and 6 indicating strong agreement.
It measures 6 multiple domains which are as follows:
a) Autonomy

I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are different from the actual
ones.
b) Environmental Mastery
In general, I feel I am in charge of the situation in which I live.
c) Personal Growth
I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how you
think about yourself and the world.
d) Positive Relations
People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time
with others.
e) Purpose in life
Some people move here & there aimlessly through life, but I am not one
of them.
f) Self-acceptance
I like most aspects of my personality.

Responses are added for each of the six categories (about half of the responses are reverse
scored,

which is indicated on the master copy of the test). For each category, a high score

indicates that the respondent has a mastery of that area in his or her life. On the other hand, a low
score shows that the respondent struggles to feel comfortable with that particular concept.
There was a study that investigated that PWS has construct validity. Correlation was
also found among the 6 dimensions of this scale. The other correlations of self-

acceptance (0.52), autonomy &

self-acceptance (0.52), personal growth & self-acceptance

(0.48), autonomy & positive relations (0.32), environmental mastery & positive relations (0.45),
purpose in life &

positive relations (0.55), personal growth & positive relations (0.57),

environmental mastery & autonomy (0.53), purpose in life & autonomy (0.46), personal growth
&

autonomy

(0.39),

and

personal

growth

&

environmentalmastery(0.46).

The reliability and validity of the PWB was assessed using a sample of 321 participants. Ryff
(1989a) reported the following internal consistency reliability coefficients: .86 or autonomy, .90
or environmental mastery, .87 or personal growth, .91 or positive relationships with others, .90 or
purpose in life, and .93 or self-acceptance. Test-retest reliability was assessed using a subset of the
sample, 117 people, over six weeks; coefficients ranged from .81 to .85.
In another study, the internal consistency reliability coefficients were .78 or autonomy, .77 or
environmental mastery, .74 or personal growth, .83 or positive relationships with others, .76 or
purpose in life, and .79 or self-acceptance. Test-retest reliability coefficients, over eight weeks,
ranged from .74 to.84 (Cenkseven, 2004)
Statistical Analysis
In this study, I will use SPSS. Moreover, Pearson correlation will also be used for its statistical
analysis, as I tend to examine the relationship among two variables.

References

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4. Adler, M. G., & Fagley, N. S. (2005). Appreciation: Individual differences in nding

value and meaning as a unique predictor of subjective well-being. Journal of Personality,
73, 79114.
5. Fredrickson BL. Gratitude, like other positive emotions, broadens and builds. In:
Emmons RA, McCullough ME, editors. The Psychology of Gratitude. New York: Oxford
University Press; 2004. pp. 145166.
6. Roberts RC. The blessings of gratitude: a conceptual analysis. In: Emmons RA,
McCullough ME, editors. The Psychology of Gratitude. New York: Oxford University
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