Is gratitude a moral affect?
Abstract
Gratitude is conceptualized as a moral affect that is analogous to other moral emotions such as empathy and guilt. Gratitude has 3 functions that can be conceptualized as morally relevant: (a) a moral barometer function (i.e., it is a response to the perception that one has been the beneficiary of another person's moral actions); (b) a moral motive function (i.e., it motivates the grateful person to behave prosocially toward the benefactor and other people); and (c) a moral reinforcer function (i.e., when expressed, it encourages benefactors to behave morally in the future). The personality and social factors that are associated with gratitude are also consistent with a conceptualization of gratitude as an affect that is relevant to people's cognitions and behaviors in the moral domain.
Cite this
Michael E. McCullough, Shelley Dean Kilpatrick, Robert A. Emmons, David B. Larson (2001). Is gratitude a moral affect?. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.127.2.249
@article{e2001is,
title = {Is gratitude a moral affect?},
author = {McCullough, Michael E. and Kilpatrick, Shelley Dean and Emmons, Robert A. and Larson, David B.},
year = {2001},
journal = {Psychological Bulletin},
doi = {10.1037//0033-2909.127.2.249}
}Citations in this library
Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 1,697 citations exist upstream.