Rewarding valuable services and altruistic motives: gratitude and pay for essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic

Two studies examine whether a social-cognitive model of appraisal predicts gratitude toward workers deemed “essential” by the UK government during the Covid-19 response. Gratitude was predicted by appraisals of how essential work was, how costly and whether workers were contributing out of a genuine desire to help, and in turn predicted judgments of how much workers should earn. In a second experimental study support is found for the novel prediction that gratitude is systematically higher for lower-paid workers. The data extends the model and applies it to self-reported gratitude toward remote and unidentified workers during a period of crisis.