Gratitude Interventions Project By Dr. Robert Emmons
Dr. Robert Emmons is known for his research with the interface of personality psychology and the psychology of emotion and religion. His foremost interests lie in the psychology of gratitude and the psychology of personal goals. He studies how each of them are related to positive psychological processes which includes happiness, well-being, and personality integration. His most recent research into the correlation of gratitude and happiness gives fascinating insight into the power of thought.
Emmons is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology and professor at the University of California.
Dr Robert Emmons authored the following books:
- The Psychology of Ultimate Concerns (Guilford Press)
- The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford University Press)
- THANKS!: How The New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, forthcoming from Houghton-Mifflin.
Gratitude interventions project
In a study project to learn more about gratitude and how using it can help us become more positive and connected with other human beings, Robert Emmons enlisted the help of some students to dig deeper in the science of the universal law of attraction.
What he found was very interesting as it clearly demonstrates how positive thinking and the attitude of gratitude can help us become happier and more balanced.
Happiness: In his research he found that those who kept gratitude journals felt better about their lives, exercised more and were more optimistic about the week ahead. The other group who kept their journaling to negative events didn’t show these positive results at all.
Goal setting: When it came to setting goals, the gratitude group was making great progress toward important goals within a two months period. Goals such as health based, academic and inter personal were getting much closer with the gratitude group. On the other hand, those who didn’t practice daily gratitude failed to make progress.
State of mind: Daily self guided exercises in gratitude (interventions) resulted in some amazing results. More enthusiasm, higher levels of awareness, more termination, positive energy and more were the result of these daily exercises. The other group was practicing downward social comparison and focused on hassles and negativity. Their results didn’t show and positive increases.
More helpful: There was also a notable increase in helpfulness toward others by those who kept their gratitude journals.
Better health: In a test with adults who had neuromuscular disease, Emmons did a 21-day gratitude intervention. This resulted in greater amounts of high energy positive moods and a greater sense of feeling connected with others. Individuals were also more optimistic about their life and slept better at night.
Learn more about Robert Emmons
To read more about Robert Emmons and his gratitude intervention studies click on the link. His studies proof how important it is for us to keep a positive mind set and use daily gratitude practice.
It doesn’t take much to keep a gratitude journal either and we will blog about this over the next months. We’ll give you inspiration, ideas and show you ways in which you can do this yourself.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
[...] Bryant on “savoring”, and that of other researchers like Dr. Robert Emmons on the pervasively positive effects of gratitude, and you have the beginnings of a powerful, healthy practice that will serve you well for a [...]