Robert Emmons:

Father of the Scientific Study of Gratitude

By Mark Berner

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If you are like me, you have probably found the practice of gratitude naive, if not downright annoying. When, in the teeth of yet one more crushing disappointment, a well-meaning friend suggests a gratitude journal, I fear my hair will spontaneously combust. Sure, we all have moments of gratitude, in response to a gracious compliment, recovery from a threatening illness, or delight when a child jumps into our lap and gives us a hug. Such experiences are fleeting and unbidden, emotional responses to things over which we have no control. But gratitude as a way of life, a cultivated disposition rather than a reflexive emotion, is surely unrealistic and probably irresponsible. Cancer strikes, marriages dissolve, parents die, pandemics spread, gun violence spikes, racism flourishes, white nationalism metastasizes. “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold”. The wise person, we tell ourselves, should be alert, guarded, and poised for action for the inevitable crises and heartaches that life brings.  Gratitude, and the optimism it seems to imply, are traits most of us can’t afford.

Scripture too can be read to justify a kind of Stoic realism. When calamity threatens, doesn’t Jesus advise us to be wise as serpents, and Paul tell us to strap on our armor and be alert, and Peter counsel us to be clear minded and self-controlled? 

Dr. Pangloss is one of classic literature’s most memorable characters: the pedantic, unfailingly optimistic tutor of Candide, the hero of Voltaire’s satiric novel of the same name. Pangloss lives his life based on the premise that this is “the best of all possible worlds”, a point of view that Voltaire savagely parodies by having Pangloss maintain his naïve optimism and sunny gratitude in the face of an unending series of catastrophes, including earthquakes, floods, syphilis, imprisonment, and torture. Despite all this Pangloss, resolutely refuses to accept any evidence that contradicts his beliefs, creating increasingly credulous justifications for his unsupportable convictions. 

Robert Emmons – the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude – is no Stoic and no Pangloss. Emmons, a psychologist at the University of California at Davis, is widely regarded as the “father” of the scientific study of gratitude. His findings have convinced me that everything I knew or thought I knew about gratitude was wrong. Gratitude does not require naïve assumptions about the nature of reality; it does not ask me to conjure positive feelings and deny life’s tragedies; it is not a gnostic practice or mindfulness meme; it is not impractical and unrealistic; it is not payable in a currency available only to the rich, the powerful, and the privileged. Emmons, a devout Christian, taught me that gratefulness is essential to living well physically, mentally, and spiritually, not because it is some kind of spiritual parlor trick but because gratitude helps me conform to the reality that God has created and is in the process of redeeming. Living a grateful life is living in reality. 

Here are a few of the counter-intuitive insights developed by Emmons and his colleagues that upended my understanding of gratitude. More such insights, and their connection to the spiritual life, along with practical suggestions for cultivating gratitude, can be found in the links below.

1. Gratitude is not about feelings; it is about behavior. We don’t have to feel grateful before acting grateful; behavior does not depend on feelings, it evokes feeling. This runs counter to the modern emphasis on emotional authenticity, which assumes that behavior is a response to feelings, not the other way around. In fact, social psychology has demonstrated that attitude change follows behavioral change--an insight also found in the Hebrew Scriptures, which command us to love our parents and return thanks to God with no apparent regard for our feelings of affection or gratitude. 

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2. Gratitude is a social emotion; not just a private feeling. Emmons defines gratitude as “an affirmation of the goodness in one’s life and the recognition that the sources of this goodness lie at least partially outside the self.” Gratitude shifts the focus from viewing ourselves as autonomous individuals to seeing ourselves as part of a larger, reciprocal, and intricate web of sustaining relationships. Gratitude inspires “pro-social” behavior toward others: compassion, generosity, and charitable giving (including toward those outside our social, racial, cultural, economic, and religious affinity groups).

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3. Gratitude dramatically improves physical and mental health.  Recent research, corroborated by multiple studies using state-of-the-art biomarker measures for health and aging, has yielded some striking results. The practice of gratitude can lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels, boost immune function, and facilitate sleep. It can reduce the life-time risk of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide, as well as heart disease and renal failure. Grateful people exercise more, have healthier diets, are less likely to smoke or abuse alcohol, and are more likely to adhere to a drug and medical regimen. They are also far more resilient than control groups when faced with significant physical, emotional, financial, or other adversity. By any measure, gratitude also makes us happier and more content. It does not make bad things go away, but it enhances our ability to cope by widening the temporal and emotional aperture of our imagination beyond a focus on our current afflictions. 

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4. Gratitude begins as a choice and ends as a lifestyle. Gratitude begins in humility, with the recognition that there is very little in life that we can control and that all that is truly important, including life itself, is a gift. It shifts attention away from ourselves and our own merit, and from the grief and anger over what we have lost or been denied. Gratitude also begins with self-forgetfulness. Emmons notes that trying to be grateful is a burden that reduces gratitude to a to-do list or self-improvement project; it is doomed to failure like so many New Year’s resolutions. Gratitude focuses our attention outward, not on our feelings but on the gift and the giver. When asked about his gratitude practice, Emmons says, “I don’t have a practice. It is just a lifestyle for me. Asking about my practice is like asking if I have a breathing or walking practice. Every moment is an opportunity for gratitude, every moment a gift.” Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.

Emmons would be the first to acknowledge that developing a grateful lifestyle is far from easy, for gratitude resembles other aspects of mature character and deep faith: it is hard, and requires intention, discipline, and time before it becomes second nature. To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, gratitude has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried. The good news is that Emmons has shown us how to throw off the ingratitude that so easily entangles us and run with perseverance the race marked out for us. And when we do, we will discover, with Chesterton, that “thanks is the highest form of thought, and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

For those interested in learning more about Robert Emmons’ work, here is a good place to start: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/profile/robert_emmons - articles   Links to other online articles and videos are found in the Dig Deeper section below. [Full Disclosure: Emmons is a friend and colleague of the author.] 

Mark Berner is a lawyer and entrepreneur active in fintech and higher education.