The Relationship Between Simple Pleasures and Trait Gratitude

<p>Grateful disposition is associated with positive affect, happiness, high levels of overall well-being and an appreciation of simple pleasures. This study further examined the relationship between simple pleasures and trait gratitude. I hypothesized that people with higher trait gratitude scores would notice more simple pleasures in their lives and feel more gratitude for simple pleasures than less grateful people. I acquired data from 169 undergraduate students at Eastern Washington University. Results suggested that grateful people experienced the same number of simple pleasures as less grateful people but were more grateful for them. This suggests that although grateful people do not encounter simple pleasures more frequently, they do experience more positive affect regarding simple pleasures, particularly simple pleasures that have occurred recently.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS) in Psychology: Clinical

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year

2014

Author dc:creator

• Shupe, Megan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Philip Watkins
• Amani El-Alayli
• Sarah Keller

• Gratitude
• simple pleasures
• positive affect
• Psychiatry and Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• Access is available to all users

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/228

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.ewu.edu:theses-1227