Article An Upward Spiral Between Gratitude and Humility

In two experiments and one diary study, we examined the relationship between self- and other-oriented processes by considering how gratitude can influence humility and vice versa. Humility is characterized by low self-focus, secure sense of self, and increased valuation of others. Gratitude is marked by a sense that one has benefited from the actions of another. In the first experiment, participants who wrote a gratitude letter showed higher state humility than those who performed a neutral activity. In the second experiment, baseline state humility predicted the amount of gratitude felt after writing a gratitude letter compared to a neutral activity. Finally, in a 14-day diary study, humility and gratitude mutually predicted one another, even after controlling for the other’s prior level. Our results suggest that humility and gratitude are mutually reinforcing. Keywords humility, gratitude, self-focus, upward spiral That the self is embedded in a network of social relationships is one of the oldest social psychological observations (Mead, 1934). Over the past century, researchers have theorized how perceptions of others can influence self-perceptions (Cooley