Gratitude in Collectivist and Individualist Cultures
Open accessAbstract
Although research suggests that Eastern, collectivist cultures do not benefit as much from practicing gratitude compared to Western, individualist cultures, the reasons for these differences remain unclear. In a single time-point randomized controlled intervention, participants in India (N = 431), Taiwan (N = 112), and the U.S. (N = 307) were randomly assigned either to write a gratitude letter to someone who had done a kind act for them, to write a gratitude letter to themselves for a kind act they had done for another person, or to complete a neutral control writing activity. Immediately after completing their assigned writing activity, participants completed measures of state gratitude, elevation, and emotions (guilt, indebtedness, embarrassment, positive affect, and negative affect). U.S. (but not Indian and Taiwanese) participants who expressed gratitude reported greater state gratitude relative to controls. Although not explicitly grateful, however, Indian and Taiwanese participants who wrote gratitude letters reported higher elevation (and Indian participants, reduced negative affect) compared to control participants. Finally, compared to control participants, Taiwanese (but not U.S.) participants felt less guilty when writing a gratitude letter to themselves. The results provide new insights for why expressing gratitude may be a less effective happiness-promoting activity in collectivist cultures.
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- Authors
- Shin, L. J., Armenta, C. N., Kamble, S. V., Chang, S.-L., Wu, H.-Y., & Lyubomirsky, S.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- Karnatak University (IN)
- Claremont Graduate University (US)
- Kaohsiung Medical University (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Shin, Lilian J.
- Venue
- The Journal of Positive Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-07-07
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 598-604
- ISSN
- 1743-9760 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-9779
- OpenAlex
- W3040509159
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 9 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 9.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- escholarship.org
- Locations
- The Journal of Positive Psychology (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Keywords
- gratitude, gratitude letter, collectivist culture, individualistic culture, cross-cultural comparison, state gratitude, altitude, guilt, negative affect, positive affect, happiness promotion, writing intervention
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