Abstract
Positive emotions and gratitude are essential contributors to happiness and well-being, but how trait tendencies toward positive emotionality and gratitude differ in predicting event-specific gratitude are poorly understood. Furthermore, no research has examined whether people who exhibit greater trait tendencies toward positive emotions or gratitude experience greater event-specific gratitude in response to positive events, or whether cognitively amplifying positive emotions in response to positive events mediates these relationships to enhance event-specific gratitude experiences. Our 8-week, prospective study of 145 adults examined whether greater trait positive emotionality and greater trait gratitude would distinctly predict greater event-specific gratitude as mediated by two types of positive rumination (self-focused and emotion-focused) in response to positive events. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that when considered jointly, greater trait positive emotionality predicted greater event-specific gratitude, and greater emotion-focused positive rumination mediated the effects of trait positive emotionality on event-specific gratitude. Findings supported that individuals with greater trait positive emotionality were more likely to positively ruminate about positive emotional experiences and this partially explained their increase in event-specific gratitude. Findings also suggested that trait positive emotionality and trait gratitude are distinct but related constructs that differentially relate to event-specific gratitude. In the pursuit of happiness and well-being, literature on gratitude interventions may benefit from incorporating emotion-focused positive rumination strategies to promote gratitude in response to positive events.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahrens, A. H., & Forbes, C. N. (2014). Gratitude. In M. M. Tugade, M. N. Shiota, L. D. Kirby, M. M. Tugade, M. N. Shiota, & L. D. Kirby (Eds.), Handbook of positive emotions (pp. 342–361). New York: Guilford Press.
Algoe, S. B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: The ‘other-praising’ emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. The Journal of Positive Psychology,4(2), 105–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760802650519.
Bastian, B., Kuppens, P., De Roover, K., & Diener, E. (2014). Is valuing positive emotion associated with life satisfaction? Emotion,14(4), 639–645. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036466.
Cropanzano, R., & Dasborough, M. T. (2015). Dynamic models of well-being: Implications of affective events theory for expanding current views on personality and climate. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology,24(6), 844–847. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2015.1072245.
Diener, E., Sandvik, E., & Pavot, W. (1991). Happiness is the frequency, not the intensity, of positive versus negative affect. In F. Strack, M. Argyle, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Subjective well-being: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 119–139). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Emmons, R. A. (2012). Queen of the virtues? Gratitude as human strength. Reflective Practice: Formation and Supervision in Ministry,32, 49–62.
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,84(2), 377–389. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.377.
Emmons, R. A., & Stern, R. (2013). Gratitude as a psychotherapeutic intervention. Journal of Clinical Psychology,69(8), 846–855. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22020.
Evans, D. E., & Rothbart, M. K. (2007). Developing a model for adult temperament. Journal of Research in Personality,41(4), 868–888. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2006.11.002.
Feldman, G. C., Joormann, J., & Johnson, S. L. (2008). Responses to positive affect: A self-report measure of rumination and dampening. Cognitive Therapy and Research,32(4), 507–525. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-006-9083-0.
Forster, D. E., Pedersen, E. J., Smith, A., McCullough, M. E., & Lieberman, D. (2016). Benefit valuation predicts gratitude. Evolution and Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.06.003.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist,56(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004a). Gratitude, like other positive emotions, broadens and builds. In R. A. Emmons & M. E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 145–166). New York: Oxford University Press.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004b). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences,359, 1367–1377. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1512.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. A. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought–action repertoires. Cognition and Emotion,19, 313–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Losada, M. F. (2005). Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist,60(7), 678–686. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.7.678.
Fredrickson, B. L., Mancuso, R. A., Branigan, C., & Tugade, M. M. (2000). The undoing effect of positive emotions. Motivation and Emotion,24(4), 237–258. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010796329158.
Gilbert, K. E., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Gruber, J. (2013). Positive emotion dysregulation across mood disorders: How amplifying versus dampening predicts emotional reactivity and illness course. Behaviour Research and Therapy,51(11), 736–741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2013.08.004.
Gloria, C. T., & Steinhardt, M. A. (2014). Relationships among positive emotions, coping, resilience and mental health. Stress and Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2589.
Gruszecka, E. (2015). Appreciating gratitude: Is gratitude an amplifier of well-being? Polish Psychological Bulletin,46(2), 186–196. https://doi.org/10.1515/ppb-2015-0025.
Haidt, J. (2003). The moral emotions. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, & H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 852–870). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harbaugh, C. N., & Vasey, M. W. (2014). When do people benefit from gratitude practice? The Journal of Positive Psychology,9(6), 535–546. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.927905.
Harding, K. A., Hudson, M. R., & Mezulis, A. H. (2014). Cognitive mechanisms linking low trait positive affect to depressive symptoms: A prospective diary study. Cognition and Emotion,28(8), 1502–1511. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.889661.
Huppert, F. A., & So, T. T. (2013). Flourishing across Europe: Application of a new conceptual framework for defining well-being. Social Indicators Research,110(3), 837–861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9966-7.
Lambert, N. M., Fincham, F. D., & Stillman, T. F. (2012). Gratitude and depressive symptoms: The role of positive reframing and positive emotion. Cognition and Emotion,26(4), 615–633. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2011.595393.
Louro, A. C., Blasco, T., & Fernández-Castro, J. (2015). Is there a relationship between positive affect and other dimensions of quality of life in colorectal cancer patients? Anales De Psicología,31(2), 404–413.
Martin, L. L., & Tesser, A. (1996). Some ruminative thoughts. In R. Wyer (Ed.), ruminative thoughts (pp. 1–47). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,82(1), 112–127. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.1.112.
McCullough, M. E., Tsang, J., & Emmons, R. A. (2004). Gratitude in intermediate affective terrain: Links of grateful moods to individual differences and daily emotional experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,86(2), 295–309. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.295.
Nezlek, J. B. (2007). A multilevel framework for understanding relationships among traits, states, situations and behaviours. European Journal of Personality,21(6), 789–810.
Olinsky, A., Chen, S., & Harlow, L. (2003). The comparative efficacy of imputation methods for missing data in structural equation modeling. European Journal of Operational Research,151(1), 53–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(02)00578-7.
Ortony, A., Clore, G. L., & Collins, A. (1988). The cognitive structure of emotions (pp. 1–25). New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511571299.
Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M. P. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies,6(1), 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-004-1278-z.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers,36(4), 717–731. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206553.
Quoidbach, J., Mikolajczak, M., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Positive interventions: An emotion regulation perspective. Psychological Bulletin,141(3), 655–693. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038648.
Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park: Sage.
Roberts, R. C. (2004). The blessings of gratitude: A conceptual analysis. In R. A. Emmons & M. E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 58–80). New York: Oxford University Press.
Rothbart, M. K. (2007). Temperament, development, and personality. Current Directions in Psychological Science,16(4), 207–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00505.x.
Seligman, M. E. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York: Free Press.
Siegel, J. T., Thomson, A. L., & Navarro, M. A. (2014). Experimentally distinguishing elevation from gratitude: Oh, the morality. The Journal of Positive Psychology,9(5), 414–427. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.910825.
Thompson, E. R. (2007). Development and validation of an internationally reliable short-form of the positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS). Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology,38(2), 227–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022106297301.
Tong, E. W. (2015). Differentiation of 13 positive emotions by appraisals. Cognition and Emotion,29(3), 484–503. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.922056.
Trapnell, P. D., & Campbell, J. D. (1999). Private self-consciousness and the five-factor model of personality: Distinguishing rumination from reflection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,76(2), 284–304.
Treynor, W., Gonzalez, R., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2003). Rumination reconsidered: A psychometric analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research,27(3), 247–259.
Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1994). The PANAS-X: Manual for the positive and negative affect schedule-expanded form. Iowa City: University of Iowa. (Unpublished manuscript).
Wood, A., Froh, J., & Geraghty, A. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review,30, 890–905. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.005.
Wood, A. M., Maltby, J., Stewart, N., Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2008). A social-cognitive model of trait and state levels of gratitude. Emotion,8(2), 281–290. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.8.2.281.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harding, K.A., Murphy, K.M. & Mezulis, A. Ruminating on the Positive: Paths from Trait Positive Emotionality to Event-Specific Gratitude. J Happiness Stud 20, 101–117 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9940-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9940-4