Gratitude and the greater good : effects on two dimensions of utilitarianism.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20413938

There are long standing theoretical links between gratitude and morality, and accumulating experimental evidence finds gratitude is associated with a broad range of moral and prosocial behaviors. However, no research has examined how gratitude relates specifically to moral judgment, the process of how people consider what is morally right and wrong. In the present research, I explored how gratitude relates to utilitarianism, a moral ethics framework that prioritizes the most good for the most people. Recently, two dimensions of utilitarianism have been delineated: impartial beneficence, defined as self-sacrifice and impartiality for the greater good, and instrumental harm, defined as harming others for the greater good. There is strong evidence that gratitude increases self-sacrifice behaviors; and, while there are not gratitude-specific findings for instrumental harm, there is mixed evidence that emotions as a category may decrease instrumental harm. In three studies, I examined if 1) gratitude positively related to impartial beneficence and 2) did not relate to or negatively related to instrumental harm.In Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to a gratitude or neutral mood induction. They then reported their state emotions, and afterwards they completed a personality trait scale for utilitarian preferences and two versions of the Trolley Problem, which assesses instrumental harm. Participants made to feel grateful, relative to neutral participants, were more likely to endorse trait impartial beneficence and did not significantly differ in endorsement with trait instrumental harm. There were no significant group differences found for the Trolley Problem responses. The results suggested manipulated and self-reported gratitude positively related to impartial beneficence and did not relate to instrumental harm. However, a general positivity effect could not be disambiguated from a state gratitude effect because another positive emotion induction was not included. Study 2, a replication and an extension, added a happiness condition (another positive emotion induction) and new moral dilemmas assessing both impartial beneficence and instrumental harm. The first hypothesis was only partially supported. There was a null effect of gratitude induction on impartial beneficence measures, but there was also a positive association between state gratitude and trait impartial beneficence. Supporting the second hypothesis, there was no effect of condition or state gratitude on instrumental harm measures. Further analyses revealed that positive emotions had the same pattern of results as state gratitude on the utilitarian measures and suggested that any effect seen on impartial beneficence might be due to positive emotions, rather than a distinct gratitude effect. In Study 3, an extension of the two prior studies, participants were randomly assigned to a mood induction (neutral, happiness, or gratitude). Next, they were randomly assigned to economic games in which they could sacrifice their points to increase group compensation (impartial beneficence) or take away points from another player to increase group compensation (instrumental harm). There was a null effect of condition and state gratitude on impartial beneficence game behavior, which did not support the first hypothesis. There was a null effect of condition and state positive emotions on instrumental harm game behavior, which supported the second hypothesis. Study 1 was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, while Studies 2 and 3 were conducted during the pandemic. Study comparisons using meta-analytic procedures and other analyses revealed that Study 2 and 3 participants exhibited elevated positive emotions relative to Study 1 participants, and Study 2 participants exhibited higher trait impartial beneficence relative to Study 1 participants. Analyses with COVID-related variables also yielded significant relationships with focal study variables. These results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may be influencing the primary relationships under examination. Overall, there was limited but suggestive evidence that gratitude and positive emotions are related to impartial beneficence and more firm evidence that gratitude and positive emotions are not related to instrumental harm.--Author's abstract