Exploring the cognitive context of gratitude to God: emotional impact and appraisals of benefits from God

Abstract

In two pre-registered studies we investigated the cognitive context of gratitude to God (GTG) and fading positive affect of grateful memories. Although gratitude has been shown to causally impact happiness, few studies have investigated how the nature of the benefactor might affect experienced gratitude. Participants first recalled a positive event, a human-caused benefit, or a God-caused benefit. After recall they reported their current momentary emotions, recalled past emotions from the time of the event and emotion appraisals. Grateful memories showed less fading positive affect over time compared to other positive memories. Appraisals of value and altruism predicted both GTG and gratitude to humans (GTH). Positive spiritual appraisals (e.g. positive interpretations about one’s relationship with God, the sacred giftedness of the event) were uniquely associated with GTG. When it comes to felt gratitude, the nature of the benefactor does matter.