A multinational megastudy of the effects of gratitude practices on subjective well-being
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Scholars have observed people from a variety of cultures using a variety of gratitude-related practices to change their emotions, outlooks, and social relationships. Across 34 countries purposively sampled to cover a broad set of cross-cultural differences (total N = 10,696), we experimentally tested the effects of 6 brief gratitude interventions on subjective moods, life outlooks, and social evaluations. Compared to 3 control tasks, gratitude practices immediately produced theorized improvements in positive affect ( d = 0.37), negative affect ( d = −0.22), optimism ( d = 0.24), life satisfaction ( d = 0.12), indebtedness ( d = 0.15), and envy ( d = −0.16). Notably, these effects varied across different gratitude practices (0.00 < τ practice < 0.08) and countries (0.10 < τ country < 0.19). For instance, based on existing evidence, stakeholders can expect gratitude interventions deployed in a randomly selected country to improve positive affect—but not our other measured outcomes. To guide future inquiry into why this might be the case, we provide exploratory Bayesian estimates of the importance of 12 cross-cultural differences.
Authors: Nicholas A. Coles, Annabel V. Dang, Shigehiro Oishi, Abigail Adade, Aderonke A. Akintola, Beatriz B. de Souza, Biljana Gjoneska, Christine R. Harris, Dev Kesarwani, Dinara Pisareva, Eugene Y. J. Tee, Goo Lyann, Gul Gunaydin, Gyuri Lee, Hongbo Yu, Hyewon Choi, JohnBosco Chika Chukwuorji, Karoline Klitgaard, Maciej Behnke, Magnus Bergquist, Marit Gunda Gundersen Engeset, Nattasuda Taephant, Nikita Durnev, Ognen Spasovski, Paulo Sergio Boggio, Ram Manohar Singh, Robin Irmel, Sergio Barbosa, Shangcheng Zhao, Sinem Acar-Burkay, Stefan Pfattheicher, Tatsunori Ishii, Victor Goh Weng Yew, Vivian Dzokoto, Zeynep Soyalan, Michael E. McCullough
Institutions: University of Florida, University of Chicago, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Redeemer University, Redeemer's University, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, University of California San Diego, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Nazarbayev University, HELP University, Sabancı Üniversitesi, Kyung Hee University, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Nigeria, Aarhus University, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, University of Gothenburg, University of South-Eastern Norway, Chulalongkorn University, Columbia University, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, Universidad del Rosario, Japan Women's University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4415749507