Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Is gratitude an alternative to materialism?

  • Published:
Journal of Happiness Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Materialistic strivings have been implicated as a cause of unhappiness. Gratitude, on the other hand – both in its manifestations as a chronic affective trait and as a more temporary emotional experience – may be a cause of happiness. In the present paper we review the empirical research on the relationships among materialism, gratitude, and well-being. We present new correlational data on the gratitude–materialism relationship and propose that gratitude may have the potential to reduce materialistic strivings and consequently diminish the negative effects of materialistic strivings on psychological well-being. We conclude with some recommendations for future research on the relationships among gratitude, materialism, and well-being.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • P.R. Abramson R. Inglehart (1995) Value Change in Global Perspective University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  • M.G. Adler N.S. Fagley (2005) ArticleTitle‘Appreciation: Individual differences in finding value and meaning as a unique predictor of subjective well-being’ Journal of Personality 73 79–114 Occurrence Handle10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00305.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A.C. Ahuvia N.Y. Wong (2002) ArticleTitle‘Personality and values based materialism: Their relationship and origins’ Journal of Consumer Psychology 12 389–402 Occurrence Handle10.1207/15327660260382414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R.W. Belk (1985) ArticleTitle‘Materialism: Trait aspects of living in the material world’ Journal of Consumer Research 12 265–280 Occurrence Handle10.1086/208515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P.A. Bertocci R.M. Millard (1963) Personality and the Good: Psychological and Ethical Perspectives McKay New York

    Google Scholar 

  • O.L. Braun R.A. Wicklund (1989) ArticleTitle‘Psychological antecedents of conspicuous consumption’ Journal of Economic Psychology 10 161–187 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0167-4870(89)90018-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.E. Burroughs A. Rindfleisch (2002) ArticleTitle‘Materialism and well-being: A conflicting values perspective’ Journal of Consumer Research 29 348–370 Occurrence Handle10.1086/344429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • L.C. Chang R. Arkin (2002) ArticleTitle‘Materialism as an attempt to cope with uncertainty’ Psychology and Marketing 19 389–406 Occurrence Handle10.1002/mar.10016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P. Cohen J. Cohen (1996) Life Values and Adolescent Mental Health Erlbaum Mahwah, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Diener R.A. Emmons R.J. Larsen S. Griffin (1985) ArticleTitle‘The Satisfaction with Life Scale’ Journal of Personality Assessment 49 71–75 Occurrence Handle10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.R. Dunn M.E. Schweitzer (2005) ArticleTitle‘Feeling and believing: The influence of emotion on trust’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88 736–748 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0022-3514.88.5.736

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R.A. Emmons (2004) The psychology of gratitude: An introduction R.A. Emmons M.E. McCullough (Eds) The Psychology of Gratitude Oxford University Press New York 3–16

    Google Scholar 

  • R.A. Emmons M.E. McCullough (2003) ArticleTitle‘Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 377–389

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Ger R.W. Belk (1990) ArticleTitle‘Measuring and comparing materialism cross-culturally’ Advances in Consumer Research 17 186–192

    Google Scholar 

  • J.W. Hughes C. Stoney (2000) ArticleTitle‘Depressed mood is related to high-frequency heart rate variability during stressors’ Psychosomatic Medicine 62 796–803

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R.: 2000, ‘Globalization and postmodern values’, Washington Quarterly 23, pp. 215–228

  • L.A. Jackson D.A. Lewandowski R.E. Fleury P.P. Chin (2001) ArticleTitle‘Effects of affect, stereotype consistency and valence of behavior on causal attributions’ Journal of Social Psychology 141 31–48 Occurrence Handle10.1080/00224540109600521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasser, T.: 2004, Materialistic Desires Scale. Unpublished questionnaire (Knox College, Galesburg, IL)

  • T. Kasser (2002) The High Price of Materialism The MIT Press Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • T. Kasser R.M. Ryan (1993) ArticleTitle‘A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65 410–422 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T. Kasser R.M. Ryan C.E. Couchman K.M. Sheldon (2004) Materialistic values: Their causes and consequences T. Kasser A.D. Kanner (Eds) Psychology and Consumer Culture: The struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World American Psychological Association Washington, DC 11–28 Occurrence Handle10.1037/10658-002

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • T. Kasser K.M. Sheldon (2000) ArticleTitle‘Of wealth and death: Materialism, mortality salience, and consumption behavior’ Psychological Science 11 348–351 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-9280.00269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A.K. Kau J. Kwon T.S. Jiuan J. Wirtz (2000) ArticleTitle‘The influence of materialistic inclination on values, life satisfaction and aspirations: An empirical analysis’ Social Indicators Research 49 317–333 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1006956602509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.S. Lerner D. Keltner (2000) ArticleTitle‘Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice’ Cognition and Emotion 14 473–493 Occurrence Handle10.1080/026999300402763

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.S. Lerner D. Keltner (2001) ArticleTitle‘Fear, anger, and risk’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81 146–159 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. McCraty M. Atkinson W.A. Tiller G. Rein A.D. Watkins (1995) ArticleTitle‘The effects of emotions on short-term power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability’ American Journal of Cardiology 76 1089–1092 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0002-9149(99)80309-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M.E. McCullough R.A. Emmons J. Tsang (2002) ArticleTitle‘The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82 112–127 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0022-3514.82.1.112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M.E. McCullough S.D. Kilpatrick R.A. Emmons D. Larson (2001) ArticleTitle‘Is gratitude a moral affect?’ Psychological Bulletin 127 249–266 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M.E. McCullough J. Tsang R.A. Emmons (2004) ArticleTitle‘Gratitude in intermediate affective terrain: Links of grateful moods to individual differences and daily emotional experience’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 86 295–309 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, D.G. and E. Diener: 1996, ‘The pursuit of happiness’, Scientific American 26, pp. 70–72

    Google Scholar 

  • T.C. O’Guinn R.J. Faber (1989) ArticleTitle‘Compulsive buying: A phenomenological exploration’ Journal of Consumer Research 16 147–157 Occurrence Handle10.1086/209204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polak, E.: 2005, Gratitude, materialism, and well-being. Unpublished master’s thesis. (University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL)

  • M.L. Richins S. Dawson (1992) ArticleTitle‘A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation’ Journal of Consumer Research 19 303–316 Occurrence Handle10.1086/209304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Rindfleisch J.E. Burroughs F. Denton (1997) ArticleTitle‘Family structure, materialism, and compulsive consumption’ Journal of Consumer Research 23 312–325 Occurrence Handle10.1086/209486

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M.J. Sirgy D.J. Lee R. Kosenko H.L. Meadow D. Rahtz M. Cicic G. Xi Jin D. Yarsuvat D.L. Blenkhorn N. Wright (1998) ArticleTitle‘Does television viewership play a role in the perception of quality of life?’ Journal of Advertising 27 IssueID1 125–142

    Google Scholar 

  • R.C. Solomon (1977) The Passions Anchor Books Garden City, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • R.L. Trivers (1971) ArticleTitle‘The evolution of reciprocal altruism’ Quarterly Review of Biology 46 35–57 Occurrence Handle10.1086/406755

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsang, J., (in press). ‘Gratitude and prosocial behavior: An experimental test of gratitude’, Cognition and Emotion

  • L. Kempen ParticleVan (2003) ArticleTitle‘Fooling the eye of the beholder: Deceptive status signaling among the poor in developing countries’ Journal of International Development 15 157–177 Occurrence Handle10.1002/jid.973

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T. Veblen (1899/1965) The Theory of the Leisure Class A. M. Kelley, Bookseller New York

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Westermann K. Spies G. Stahl F.W. Hesse (1996) ArticleTitle‘Relative effectiveness of mood induction procedures: a meta-analysis’ European Journal of Social Psychology 26 557–580 Occurrence Handle10.1002/(SICI)1099-0992(199607)26:4<557::AID-EJSP769>3.0.CO;2-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P.C. Watkins D.L. Grimm R. Kolts (2004) ArticleTitle‘Counting your blessings: Positive memories among grateful persons’ Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, Social 23 52–67

    Google Scholar 

  • P.C. Watkins K. Woodward T. Stone R.L. Kolts (2003) ArticleTitle‘Gratitude and happiness: Development of a measure of gratitude, and relationships with subjective well-being’ Social Behavior and Personality 31 431–452 Occurrence Handle10.2224/sbp.2003.31.5.431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, K.M.: 2000, The Effect of Gratitude on Mood States. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Western Psychological Association (Portland, OR)

  • R. Wright (2000) Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny Vintage Books New York

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Zahavi (1975) ArticleTitle‘Mate selection – A selection for a handicap’ Journal of Theoretical Biology 53 205–214 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0022-5193(75)90111-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Miami, PO Box 248185, Coral Gables, FL, 33124-0751, USA

    Emily L. Polak & Michael E. McCullough

Authors
  1. Emily L. Polak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael E. McCullough
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael E. McCullough.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Polak, E.L., McCullough, M.E. Is gratitude an alternative to materialism?. J Happiness Stud 7, 343–360 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-3649-5

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-3649-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation