Review Reports

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

The Authors report on how gratitude, as a mixed emotional experience, impacts affect in social relationships and motivation towards self-improvement. I compliment the Authors for tackling the issue of detangling how the link between gratitude and psychological well-being is not straightforward – and providing empirical evidence for this.

The state-of-the art literature and the conceptual framework are well-built, comprehensive, and more than adequately referenced. The research design, methods, and analyses of the two studies are  well described, and the discussions clearly and extensively point out results, limitations and strengths.

In a few words, a sound and valuable contribution not only to a relevant topic (affective and motivational consequences of gratitude), but also to advance and consolidate a “more-than-merely positive”  approach in researching positive emotions.

My only remark to Authors regards the discussion of results as stemming from the cultural heterogeneity of the populations in the two studies. As David Matsumoto stated long ago (Matsumoto, D., 2001, Culture and emotion. In D. Matsumoto (ed.), Handbook of culture and psychology (pp. 171-194). New York: Oxford University Press), cultures supply systems of meaning that make salient different core emotional themes, different sets of emotions, their ostensible expression, and action tendencies. Therefore, “research doesn’t regard whether, but how and at what level of analysis culture shapes these processes”. From this standpoint, I appreciate how the interpretation of results put in focus the different meanings that shape the experience of gratitude in the two populations; but it comes as no surprise that different populations in different cultures would shape this experience differently.

Along this line, for studies to come, I would suggest considering the seminal research by Kitayama and colleagues I went back to when reading about indebtedness and guilt as “socially-oriented negative feelings” (Kitayama, S., Mesquita, B., & Karasawa, M., (2006), Cultural affordances and emotional experience: Socially engaging and disengaging emotions in Japan and the United States, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 890-903). In this paper, Authors provide evidence that social orientation (socially engagement vs. disengagement) is central in analyzing emotional experiences, and that Japanese have a tendency to experience engaging emotions (such as guilt) more strongly than Americans. They also pointed out that, across cultures, both positive engagement and positive disengagement can promote well-being. As in the case of the cross-cultural research on the experience of shame as a social emotion, the different sets of meaning connected with the expected impact on relational harmony vs. autonomy/relatonal separation could open interesting paths of research also on gratitude.

Author Response

Please see attached document. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Overall the manuscript presents a relevant topic of study in a not well-explored field. However, some issues must be addressed before publication. 

Introduction. 

The authors pos it that "no research has tested whether people feel more motivated to improve themselves immediately after expressing gratitude"  but also "to replicate and extend previous work"  how is this possible? 

The research question needs an introduction.

In the "benefit-triggered gratitude" section, it is important to establish how this type of gratitude has immediate affective and motivational consequences and what kind of them.

Also, it is crucial to define clearly all study variables, for example, connectedness, elevation, humility, positive affect, etc. 

The evidence regarding elevation and gratitude should be increased. The link that is presented is insufficient.

Is self-improvement not a positive consequence? Why is it separated into a section?

It is also important to provide more information and importance on the negative consequences; the section is very brief. Consider the suggestion that all variables must be defined. For example, what is meant by self-improvement in this study? Additionally, indebtedness, guilt, embarrassment, and shame definitions are required. The evidence of the link between these variables and gratitude is insufficient or missing. 

Some variables that were measured only appear in the results. All variables mentioned in the results must be defined, and the authors must present evidence that leads to the hypothesis about these variables in particular. The manuscript is very general in some sections. 

Also, it could be critical to explain how o why gratitude is an important catalyst or how it works for self-improvement. 

Method.

More information about the samples is needed—the authors only present age and gender. 

Information about ethics concerns is required. 

Evidence of the validity of scales for this sample is necessary. The authors only inform about reliability. 

Some scales explain what the scale is about, and others don't. I strongly suggest explaining it. 

The description for the elevation scale is not clear. 

A data analyses section is required in both studies. 

Discussion must contrast results more deeply with current and secondary literature in the field. More references are required in this section. 

 

Author Response

Please see attached document 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf