Abstract
There is a dearth of empirical research distinguishing gratitude to God (GTG) from interhuman gratitude (IHG). This study explored linguistic (quantitative) and thematic (qualitative) differences in letters of GTG and letters of IHG. Participants (N = 326 undergraduate students) were randomly assigned to write (a) a letter of GTG, (b) a letter of IHG, or (c) a description of their daily morning routine. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 was used to examine linguistic differences and conventional content analysis was used to explore thematic differences. Few linguistic differences were observed between the gratitude-writing conditions, but both gratitude conditions reported more affective, cognitive, and past-focused time-oriented language compared to the control condition. Qualitative analyses revealed participants in the GTG condition identified a greater breadth and depth of benefits compared to the IHG condition, and there were unique differences pertaining to non-gratitude expressions. Limitations and areas for future research are discussed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 83-94 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Journal of Positive Psychology |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2024 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Gratitude
- gratitude to God
- linguistic analysis
- religion
- spirituality
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Psychology