The Effect Of Gratitude On Deceptive Behavior:The Mediating Role Of Self-Control

Gratitude has two effects on individuals: first is the influence of gratitude on individuals' physical and mental health,happiness and interpersonal relationship based on positive psychology;On the other hand,from the perspective of moral emotion,it puts forward that gratitude,as a kind of moral emotion,has the reputation of "the source of virtue" and can play the function of moral norms to prevent and curb the emergence of immoral behaviors.However,previous studies focused more on the positive psychological aftereffect of gratitude,and less on the moral function of gratitude.The current immoral behaviors in the society,such as deceptive behavior,big or small,fundamentally violate the accepted moral norms or legal rules of the society.This paper mainly discusses the deceptive behavior which has bad consequences to the society or others.Therefore,this study is based on the perspective of moral emotion theory to study the influence of gratitude on deceptive behavior.A questionnaire was used to measure whether trait gratitude could influence deceptive behavior in study 1.The results showed that :(1)there was a positive correlation between trait gratitude and self-control,but a negative correlation exists between trait gratitude and the acceptability of deceptive behavior and the tendency of deceptive behavior.(2)self-control is negatively correlated with the acceptability of deceptive behavior and the tendency of deceptive behavior,while the acceptability of deceptive behavior is positively correlated with the tendency of deceptive behavior.(3)self-control partially mediates between trait gratitude and deceptive behavior.Study 2 mainly used the method of behavioral experiment to investigate the influence of state gratitude on deceptive behavior.Including experiment 2a and experiment 2b.Experiment 2a is to investigate the deceptive behavior induced by social rewards,and experiment 2b is to compare the deceiving induced by monetary rewards with the social rewards.The results showed that :(1)the intensity of gratitude emotion in the gratitude group was significantly higher than that in the control group,the self-control level of the gratitude group was significantly higher than that in the control group,and the deceptive behavior in the gratitude group was significantly less than that in the control group;(2)there was a significant positive correlation between state gratitude and self-control,and a significant negative correlation exists between state gratitude and deceptive behavior,and a significant negative correlation exists between self-control and deceptive behavior.(3)self-control partially mediates between state gratitude and deceptive behavior.The results show that both trait gratitude and state gratitude can prevent and restrain the individual from deceptive behavior.Individuals with a high level of trait gratitude have a high level of self-control tend to be honest and refuse to deceive.The induction of state gratitude makes individuals produce gratitude emotion and mobilize more self-control resources to suppress the impulse of deceptive behavior.