<p>During our collective journey through the course The Science of Well-Being from Yale, a debate arose regarding the scientific validity of positive psychology in general and the tool of “gratitude practice” in particular. I decided to take some time to see what the scientific community thinks about it.</p>
<p>In short, the conclusions are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Despite my expectations, science does not consider positive psychology to be nonsense, although there is a considerable amount of criticism.</li>
<li>It seems that the “gratitude practice” approach shows statistically significant positive effects in some studies, but primarily relates to certain groups of people (for example, adolescents with low levels of positive emotionality, seniors with low levels of gratitude, and members of society prone to self-criticism).</li>
</ol>
<p>“The results showed that the gratitude exercise reduced depression symptoms in participants with high levels of such symptoms at baseline and eliminated the negative impact of low baseline gratitude on subsequent happiness, positive emotions, and depression symptoms.”</p>
<p><strong>Testing Method</strong><br />164 participants (seniors) at a large Midwestern university aged 18-54 years (mean = 19.53 [SD=3.52]; 69.6% female) were divided into 3 groups:</p>
<ol>
<li>Control - task to write down 5 facts from the past day.</li>
<li>G + NR - task to write down 5 facts they are grateful for from the past day without explaining why they are doing it.</li>
<li>G + R - task to write down 5 facts they are grateful for from the past day with a lead-in on why it is important (may affect happiness levels).</li>
</ol>
<p>Various happiness questionnaires were used to test happiness levels.</p>
<p>Link to the study <a href="https://sci-hub.se/10.1080/17439760.2014.927905">https://sci-hub.se/10.1080/17439760.2014.927905</a></p>;
<p>I am not a scientist, but from the graphs and general conclusions, it seems that the effect is somewhat different from what is promised. Life won’t burst into colorful hues, and happiness won’t just arrive; rather, the tool works as a defense against the negative consequences of potential depression for those who are susceptible to it.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>