| Cognitive appraisals have been linked to feeling grateful. Specifically, a beneficiary who appraises a gift as intentionally bestowed by a benefactor, costly to the benefactor (i.e., through resource expenditure), and valued by them experiences gratitude (Tesser, Gatewood, & Driver, 1968; Wood, Maltby, Stewart, Linley, & Joseph, 2007). Children were taught these cognitive appraisals using a gratitude curriculum created for this study to enhance gratitude, well-being, and prosocial behavior.;Using a quasi-experimental design, fourth and fifth grade classrooms were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: gratitude curriculum, attention-control curriculum, or no treatment control. The gratitude condition received one 30-minute lesson a week for 5 weeks which taught the social-cognitive determinants of gratitude. The attention-control condition followed an identical format to the gratitude condition; however, neutral topics (i.e., daily events) were discussed. Three vignettes created for this study measured the children's social-cognitive determinants of gratitude (alpha = .65 -- .93). Self-report data on gratitude, the social-cognitive determinants of gratitude, well-being, and prosocial behavior were collected for all conditions at pre-test, post-test, and a 2-week follow-up. Prosocial behaviors were also measured via a behavioral indicator.;It was hypothesized that students who received the gratitude curriculum would report more gratitude, positive affect, life satisfaction, and prosocial behavior, when compared with the two control conditions at post-test and the 2-week follow-up. Furthermore, it was predicted that students who received the gratitude curriculum would report stronger endorsements of the social-cognitive determinants of gratitude when compared with the other two control groups at post-test and the 2-week follow-up and that these social-cognitive determinants would mediate the relations between condition and the outcomes at the post-test and 2-week follow-up. Data were analyzed via an analysis of covariance to control for pre-test scores across conditions. Results did not support the hypotheses.;Additional analyses revealed significant results when positive affect was examined as a moderator. Hierarchical regression models suggested that students low in positive affect in the gratitude condition reported statistically significant increases in gratitude at post-test. Students low in positive affect in the attention-control condition, however, reported statistically significant increases in life satisfaction at 2-week follow-up. |
