Research By A NHS Grad–

New Book Demystifies The Science Of Gratitude

By Nancy K. Crevier

“This time of year is a good time to reflect on gratitude,” said Dr Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis. It is one reason that he believes his new book on the science of gratitude is taking off in sales.

Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, a readable compilation of the research of Dr Robert Emmons and others in the unlikely field of gratitude research, is the third book about that subject written by 1976 Newtown High School graduate Dr Emmons, but the first book written with the general public in mind.

The book was published late this summer by Houghton Mifflin Company and has been selling at a good pace, said Dr Emmons in a recent interview. Since he began his research into the somewhat elusive subject, he has appeared on radio shows and has been quoted in several news pieces. “The timing was right, I think,” said Dr Emmons. “Most people look at their lives and want to know what makes life worth living? They want to be happier and want to know how do we get there? Gratitude is a simple way of getting there,” he said.

Dr Emmons said that he has always been prone to choosing research topics neglected by mainstream research psychologists. Subjective realms of psychology, such as happiness, spirituality, or gratitude were often deemed too obscure or personal to study. “But the tools and techniques of modern science provide an important perspective on subjective experience,” he said.

Thanks! is the culmination of a nine-year research program catalyzed by an assignment, Dr Emmons said. “I was told by the organizers of a conference I was attending to become an expert on the psychology of gratitude. So there was a bit of chance and luck involved,” Dr Emmons said.

His research led him to do a lot of reading in the areas of philosophy and theology, as well as in virtue ethics. “We have centuries of wisdom literature from different world traditions to draw upon,” he said. “The rise of the positive psychology movement in the past decade has led to a new-found appreciation for the wisdom of the past.”

Gratitude has a timeless appeal, said Dr Emmons. “People perpetually seek the best lives possible for themselves and realize that gratitude is an important part of the equation.”

He was surprised by the depth of reaction to the subject he discovered in doing his research. He came to believe that the need to give thanks is a deeply entrenched, basic instinct, and an important quality in people’s lives.

In Thanks! Dr Emmons writes, “But while the emotion seemed simplistic even to me as I began my research, I soon discovered that gratitude is a deeper, more complex phenomenon that plays a critical role in human happiness.”

His own life has been affected by the research on gratitude, said Dr Emmons. “I am much more aware of opportunities to practice gratitude.” Being thankful does not always come easily, though, he found. It is a practice that must be nurtured. By focusing on the present, as his own children have forced him to do, the power of gratitude becomes more apparent and easier to practice, he has found. “I have learned that happiness is hard work.”

The hard work of being appreciative and showing appreciation through acts of kindness and generosity does not go unrewarded, though, according to Dr Emmons’ research. “Gratitude is also motivating,” he writes in Thanks! “When we feel grateful, we are moved to share the goodness we have received with others.”

Thanks! is available through most online book services, or by visiting thanksbook.com.