Pillars of Gratitude

Philip Watkins (Gratitude and the Good Life) identifies three “pillars of gratitude.” These are components of gratitude as an emotional “trait,” as opposed to gratitude expressed in response to specific good received or as an emotional state:

“These are presumed to be three subordinate facets that contribute to and comprise the superordinate factor of trait gratitude (the attitude that all of life is a gift). First, we argued that grateful individuals should have a strong sense of abundance, or put negatively, they should have a lack of a sense of deprivation. Thus grateful people should feel that life has treated them well (indeed, the gifts of life have been abundant), and they will not feel that life has treated them unfairly or that they have been deprived of the benefits that they feel that they deserve. Secondly, people high in the grateful disposition should appreciate simple pleasures. If all of life is a gift, then grateful people should show more appreciation for the day-to-day benefits that come their way. Put differently, a grateful person should not have to wait for a trip to Maui to feel grateful. Finally, grateful people should be characterized by what we called social appreciation or Appreciation of Others: they recognize the importance of appreciating the contributions of others to their lives, and they also recognize the importance of expressing their appreciation. In sum, we argued that the attitude underlying gratitude should be characterized by a sense of abundance, an appreciation for simple pleasures, and social appreciation” (22).

People with a disposition to gratitude “show facets of intensity (they show a higher intensity in their grateful experiences), frequency (they should experience gratitude more frequently), span (they are more likely to feel grateful for a number of different life circumstances at any moment), and density (they are more likely to attribute successful outcomes to a wider variety of sources)” (22).