Dear Siew Tim,

I wonder if you've considered Robert A. Emmons' two books: Thanks (2007) and Gratitude works (2013).

Best,

Stephen

http://www.amazon.com/Thanks-Science-Gratitude-Make-Happier/dp/0618620192

Especially interested in any method to induce gratitude in teenagers. For personal reasons…

Dear Ronan,

While Emmons and McCullough have helped us in understanding gratitude in adults, Froh and others have shed some light on the same topic in children and adolescents. Please see the following links.

Best,

Stephen

http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/39/5/GratitudeinYouth.aspx

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/pdfs/GratitudePDFs/3Froh-BlessingsEarlyAdolescence.pdf

http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5885&context=etd

Thank you, Stephen!

The society Alcoholics Anonymous focuses on gratitude—and although one will hear people advising making gratitude lists, the typical induction method is not mentioned in Wood et al. (2010): role-based.

Recovering alcoholics in AA assume a role of sponsor, and model behavior for newcomers, including an "attitude of gratitude."

I'm not sure of a great study relating the AA process of gratitude induction, but this paper came up in Google Scholar and might have some relevant info.  I'm sure there are other studies of AA that would cover their process.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J020v18n04_06#.VTMplmTBzGc

Dear Stephen,

Thank you for the reply. I have just ordered the two books. 

With all the good things mentioned about the benefits of practicing gratitude, I wonder if "being grateful" or to maintain a grateful attitude be an effective way to cope with difficult situations (e.g. chronic illnesses/disabilities etc.).  Gratitude is relatively new, I supposed. Unlike optimism or resilience, little theoretical support for this positive construct. 

Dear Daniel S Helman

I agreed to what you mentioned about the typical induction method. I am not quite sure if there is any studies on gratitude that compare the difference between feeling grateful about something and feeling grateful to someone. 

I will take a look at the paper you suggested. Very interesting. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Siew Tim and Ronan, for your original questions on inducing gratefulness/gratitude in children and teenagers.

Siew Tim, I agree with you on that "'being grateful' or to maintain a grateful attitude [would] be an effective way to cope with difficult situations (e.g. chronic illnesses/disabilities etc.)." In Emmons and McCullough's The Psychology of Gratitude, they discussed the theoretical foundation of gratitude. (Please see the link).

Daniel, thanks for your input of AA into the discussion. AA indeed brings an important spiritual and communal aspect to the recovery and healing process.

Stephen

https://books.google.com/books?id=Qz4nhZ3ZMmgC&dq=inducing+gratitude&q=

Dear Siew in response to your comment to Daniel Helman you mentioned

"I am not quite sure if there is any studies on gratitude that compare the difference between feeling grateful about something and feeling grateful to someone."

Yes there is - look into the current research being conducted by Dr. Tom Gilovich - a Social Psychologist at Cornell.

Also, Barbara Fredrikson's work in Positive Psychology is another good source for Gratitude and positive emotions. She has numerous published articles and directs the PEP lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her books Positivity and Love 2.0 are wonderful resources as well as the Robert Emmons' books already mentioned!

One other measure that I didn't see mentioned here is the recently published measure of transpersonal gratitude by two colleagues of mine - John Elfers and Patty Hlava. Hlava also has a published book about gratitude called:

Cultivating Gratitude: Enhance your life and relationships through the simple power of gratitude.

Hope this is helpful!

Best Regards,

-Patricia

Hi Siew, et.al.,

Mindfulness can be an extremely powerful route to gratitude!  I attached several studies (one for kids that seems adaptable to work across the board) that discuss pertinent research, theory, and practical application; some of them include actual exercises.  Note: it may be important to adapt the wording of the exercises; my understanding is that rather than explicitly aspiring to gratitude from the get-go, it's both more validating and more effective to allow it to develop slowly and organically by inviting (and eventually welcoming) an awareness of (appreciation for) what already is.  Good luck!

-Corrina

If you're looking for grateful emotion inductions, there are several which I review in chapter 3 of my book : Gratitude and the Good Life: Toward a Psychology of Appreciation. I review different techniques such as providing a gift, reflecting on someone you're grateful for, recalling grateful memories, and perhaps the most powerful gratitude induction technique: a person helps fix your computer which saves you a lot of time and effort (See DeSteno and colleagues). If however, you're interested in training the grateful disposition, that is a different matter altogether, and there quite frankly hasn't been much work on this. As some have already commented, it did appear from the Emmons and McCullough studies that their grateful recounting technique did enhance gratitude, but the most extensive work on training the trait of gratitude has been done by Froh and colleagues in an article titled "Nice Thinking." In chapters 11 and 13 of my book I discuss this and other approaches, and try to translate Froh's approach to other populations. 

Having the children sing songs about things for which they are grateful might work.  Here are some thankfulness songs on a simple google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=thankfulness+song+for+children&ie=UTF-8

Dear Patricia,

Thank you so much for your input ! Really informative. Fredrikson has offered good theoretical work for positive emotions. 

Dear Corrina Maslanka

Thank you so much. Just what I need at the moment. Thank you.

Dear Philip Watkins,

I agreed that there is minimal study on training the grateful disposition. Pretty much is examining a person's level of state gratitude. 

I am very thankful for your input, I am pretty sure it will help me in writing up my thesis. Thank you so much.

We don't appreciate what we have until we lose it. Create a situation where they feel the absence of what you want them to be grateful for. This will highlight the benefit and create a feeling of gratefulness that they got it. Sometimes exposure to other people who don't have what they have will do the same thing.

I guess you can find some research on MINDFULNESS as a way to develop or foster gratitude. Best.

Marci Shimoff wrote "Happy for No reason" and in her Chapter 5 gives some steps for training to focus on gratitude.

In the book "The hidden connection" written by Capra, I found that "Deep Ecology" is very interesting concept. It's about changing from "Human centered to Earth centered". This makes me having more appreciation about the connection about myself and things in the world, including things that I do not have direct contact. I'm not that good but in the process of practice.

It says that, "Deep ecological awareness recognizes the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that we are all embedded in (and ultimately dependent on) the cyclical process of nature."

So practice to getting close to nature or being mindful the connection about yourself and nature might make you become gratefulness of any situation where you are in. .

Best wishes,

Saichai 

Dear Saichai Puapan

Thank you so much for your input. It sounded like mindfulness practice, I will check out the book later in the library. 

I want to thank you for your personal sharing as well. 

Kind regards

Tim

I think there has been a fair amount of work done around the benefits of journaling as a treatment, and I wouldn't be surprised if some studies of journaling included measures that target gratitude or gratefulness. just a thought.