Gratitude - Parent of all virtues

First paragraph: Gratitude is an emotion that most people feel frequently and strongly (McCullough et al., 2002). The Gallup Organization conducted a representative telephone poll of around 1000 people (as cited in Tsang & McCullough, 2004), and found that 67 per cent endorsed the statement 'all of the time' when asked how often they feel gratitude, and 60 per cent said that this made them 'very happy'. This prevalence does not seem to be limited to Western countries - with some cultural variations, gratitude seems to be experienced in countries around the world (Naito et al., 2005). Gratitude has also been a focus of recent public attention, with many people reporting increased gratitude and appreciation of life following vicarious exposure to the 11 September terrorist attacks (Peterson & Seligman, 2003)