Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is extra-role behaviour that is not formally required by organizations, but benefits the organization and its members (Organ, 1988). OCB is considered to be a core dimension of job performance (Rotundo & Sackett, 2002) with research showing that OCB contributes to the health and productivity of organizations (e.g., Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff, & Blume, 2009). As a result, both organizational researchers and organizations have long been interested in understanding the origins of this behaviour. However, research into the antecedents of OCB has important limitations. Notably, this research has conceptualized OCB as a static construct, which recent theorizing and research indicates is an inaccurate assumption (e.g., Beal, Weiss, Barros, & MacDermid, 2005; Ilies, Scott, & Judge, 2006). Additionally, OCB research has relied on a single theoretical framework, social exchange theory, to explain previous findings, creating narrowness in the field. The current dissertation sought to address these important limitations by conceptualizing OCB as a dynamic construct (i.e., one that has sizable day-to-day within-person variability) and examining the ability of state gratitude, a novel and theoretically relevant antecedent, to predict OCB. Drawing on the Moral Affect Model of gratitude, Affective Events Theory, and Broaden and Build Theory, I propose that state gratitude is an important driver of day-to-day fluctuations in OCB. In two daily diary studies, my findings revealed that, as predicted, dynamic fluctuations in OCB were significantly predicted by state gratitude. Additionally, in the second of two daily diary studies, state gratitude was successfully induced by a “count your blessings” task and state gratitude was found to be a significant mediator of the induction and OCB. Overall, the results lend support to the notion that OCB is dynamic and that state gratitude, a discrete positive emotion, can be an effective driver of OCB.

Stressors affecting healthcare providers have accelerated in recent years, causing increasing rates of burnout and emotional exhaustion. Evidence suggests that improving general mental well-being of nurses could enhance their resilience and ability to cope in stressful situations. Psychiatric nurses are at risk by caring for involuntary and manipulative patients who can be violent and abusive. The purpose of this project was to improve psychiatric nurses' mental well-being through the implementation of a gratitude practice and examined the effect of this brief gratitude intervention on their mental well-being. Models informing this project were human caring theory, resilience theory, and positive psychology models of gratitude benefits. Thirty psychiatric nurses participated; they were told to privately note 3 things they were grateful for in a gratitude journal each day. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale was administered pre- and postintervention, and chi-square analysis was performed, converting sum scores into categories (low-moderate-high); statistical significance was not demonstrated (Pearson chi-square = .1.176, Crarmer's V of .183). Nonparametric Wilcoxin Signed Rank Test and Mann-Whitney U also compared scores of pr-e and posttests. The Wilcoxin Signed Rank revealed significant differences (Z = -1.402, p = .027) but only had 6 matched pairs. Mann-Whitney U showed no significant differences between the pre- and posttest scores (U = 108, p = .161). Limitations were the inability to match identification numbers except for 6. Recommendations are gratitude education and repeat the study. This could begin to affect positive social change by promoting self-care of the nurses via incorporating principles of positive psychology into daily practice.

<div>Theorists posit that despite the well-known benefits of feeling grateful, the adoption of a grateful perspective is not always easy and the occurrence of a gratitude-worthy event is not always readily salient. Indeed, to experience a sense of gratitude may partly require that people actively regulate their cognitive and attentional resources to notice, appreciate, and subsequently respond to a gratitude event. Drawing from Dweck et al.’s (1995) implicit theories framework, I examined whether implicit beliefs concerning the development of various attributes/characteristics differentially influences people’s feelings of gratitude. Implicit theories framework stipulates that people adopt one of two learning perspectives – namely, an entity or incremental perspective. Those with an incremental perspective believe that certain characteristics (e.g., emotions, attributes) are not fixed, but are dynamic and changeable, and that their ability in a certain area can be improved, and that the associated outcomes are linked to their own diligence and labor. By comparison, people with an entity perspective believe certain characteristics are static and cannot be easily changed, and that the outcomes associated with a particular attribute are generally decoupled from their own labors. I reasoned that because incremental (vs. entity) theorists are confident that they can actively regulate their behavior to experience a desired emotional state, they should also believe that they can regulate their feelings of gratitude. In doing so, incrementals (vs. entity) should be more likely to expend cognitive and attentional resources to notice and attend to a salient gratitude event, capitalizing on opportunities to practice cultivating a grateful perspective. With the current studies, I used correlational, longitudinal, and experimental methods to examine both the fundamental association between implicit gratitude beliefs and gratitude, and whether the effect of implicit gratitude beliefs (i.e., incremental vs. entity) on feelings of gratitude differ as a function of gratitude event salience. I hypothesized that compared to entity theorists, incremental theorists should be more sensitive and attentive to a salient (vs. less salient) gratitude event, and as a result, incrementals (vs. entities) should exhibit higher levels of gratefulness/gratitude. The results across six studies provided reliably consistent evidence in support of the key hypotheses. Gratitude was positively associated with an incremental perspective and negatively associated with an entity perspective; when the gratitude event was salient (vs. less salient) incrementals were more attentive to the opportunity, and their level of gratitude was systematically higher compared to those with an entity perspective, and across the salience conditions, the difference between incrementals’ and entities’ gratitude levels was also partially explained by gratitude motivation and increased attentiveness to the gratitude event.</div>

In Study 1, 381 students (Sample A) aged 9 to 15 responded to Gratitude and Indebtedness Questionnaire-12 (GIQ-12) developed on the basis of Gratitude Questionnaire-S (McCullough, Emmons & Tsang, 2002). Their responses were used to assess whether gratitude and indebtedness were perceived as distinct dispositions through exploratory factor analysis. The responses of 249 students (Sample B) with the same age range were used to confirm the factor structure derived from the exploratory factor analysis. The construct validity of gratitude and indebtedness was further examined through relating them to subjective well-being and helping tendencies. / In the two experimental studies, separate groups of 123 and 126 students from Sample B responded to questions based on vignettes designed to elicit feelings of gratitude and indebtedness. In Study 2a, three conditions of benefactor expectation for repayment (No-expectation, Expectation, and Ambiguous) were manipulated. In Study 2b, three conditions of locus of help initiation (Request, Offer, and Ambiguous) were manipulated. / The major findings of Study 2a and Study 2b provided general support that feelings of gratitude and indebtedness could be differentiated at the situational level. In Study 2a, different conditions of benefactor's expectation to return were found to be a key factor in differentiating feeling thankful, owing others, and obliged to repay. Students felt more thankful than obliged to repay when not being expected to repay; but they felt more obliged to repay than thankful when being expected for repayment. In Study 2b, different conditions of help initiation were not able to contribute to the differentiation. In predicting prosocial motivation, gratitude trait was consistently found to be a significant predictor under nearly all scenarios in Study 2a and Study 2b. However, in predicting the magnitude of reciprocation, traits and emotions of gratitude and indebtedness were found to be substantially weak predictors. Gratitude trait was found to be the only significant predictor for prosocial motivation under ambiguous conditions. The implications of the present findings for moral education and developing interventions to promote gratitude and well-being among children and adolescents are discussed. / The results of Study 1 revealed that gratitude and indebtedness were perceived to be distinct among Chinese young adolescents in Hong Kong. Grateful students, compared with their less grateful counterparts, reported heightened subjective wellbeing, demonstrated by higher level of life satisfaction, more positive affect but less negative affect experienced in their lives. However, indebted students, compared with less indebted students, reported less satisfaction with life and more negative affect. In predicting helping tendencies, gratitude trait was found to be the strongest predictor but indebtedness trait significantly contributed to less helping tendencies. / This study consisted of one survey study (Study 1) and two experimental studies (Study 2a and Study 2b). Study 1 aimed to examine whether gratitude and indebtedness could be empirically distinguished as two dispositional traits and how they were differentially related to subjective well-being and helping tendencies. Study 2a and Study 2b aimed to investigate whether gratitude and indebtedness could be differentiated as different emotions in specific situations and how gratitude and indebtedness as traits and emotions affected prosocial motivation and reciprocal behaviors. / Zhao, Yongjun. / Adviser: David W. Chan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-173). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; appendixes A-D and F-K in Chinese.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Iowa, 2005. / Supervisor: Chuanren Ke. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-203).

Le Remerciement dans le Monde de Shakespeare : Contextes et Etudes de CasDans cette thèse nous explorons ce que le remerciement signifie à l’époque élisabéthaine et comment il se manifeste. Aussi nous analysons le remerciement tel qu’il est défini dans les dictionnaires d’e l’époque. Nous examinons également les textes religieux, les manuels de courtoisie, les traités de rhétorique qui mentionnent l’acte de remerciement. Après analysé ce contexte, nous abordons le remerciement comme acte de langage à la lumière de la pragmatique.On définit l’existence réelle du mot à partir de son degré d’influence sur le monde réel. Une simple combinaison de mots a le potentiel d’altérer une situation, n’importe laquelle. L’étude du pouvoir de la parole s’est inscrite dans le cadre théorique de ce que l’on appelle « la pragmatique ». Plus précisément, le concept « d’acte de langage » a été exploré non seulement dans la pragmatique mais aussi dans diverses disciplines ; telles que la philosophie du langage et aussi les études littéraires et théâtrales.Catherine Kerbrat Orecchioni (1984) a établi une distinction entre trois types de pragmatique : « énonciative », « illocutoire » et « conversationnelle » . Nous nous proposons d’étudier la seconde théorie qui est la pragmatique illocutoire où les valeurs illocutoires d’un énoncé sont parfaitement exploitées. Dans notre propos, les contextes d’énonciation que nous avons sélectionnés ne sont pas ordinaires. Car notre étude porte sur des fragments théâtraux tirés de Shakespeare avec leur complexité et leur particularité. Le théâtre est bien un lieu où dire est par excellence faire. Donc la parole dramatique est mise au service de l’action. Promettre dans un contexte réel peut s’accomplir différemment sur scène. En prenant l’hypothèse que le langage sert à faire avancer l’action, nous allons nous intéresser au « thank you » qui signifie «merci » en français dans les pièces de Shakespeare tout en étudiant les contextes d’énonciation du remercîment au cours de la période élisabéthaine. Notre objectif est de voir comment les différents concepts de la pragmatique élaborés permettent de dévoiler certains aspects pertinents du remerciement typiquement shakespearien. Cette forme d’analyse alimentera notre réflexion afin d’éclaircir la fonction du remerciement au théâtre. Il est aussi indispensable d’observer les modes de réalisation du remerciement de ces différentes scènes ainsi que le ton et le contexte. Dans un premier temps, l’élucidation de notre concept principal est primordiale. Que veut donc dire « remercier » ou de quoi s’agit-il quand on parle d’un acte de remerciement ?D’après l’Oxford English Dictionary (OED ), « thanks » veut dire : « to express gratitude or obligation to »; « to give the thanks or credit for something to consider or hold responsible »; « ironical use to blame »; « thank you for nothing an ironical expression indicating that the speaker thinks he has been offered nothing worth thanks ». On a aussi le « thank offering » qui a été utilisé en 1536 qui est expliqué « in the Levitical law, an offering presented as an expression of thankfulness or gratitude to god; hence an offering or gift made by way of thanks or acknowledgement ». Dans les textes de Shakespeare le terme « thank » a été employé sous plusieurs formes. Nous citons « thank, thankful, tank, dank, thanks ». On trouve bien aussi « gramercy » qui veut dire « grand merci ». Selon the Harvard Concordance le mot « thank » a été employé trois cent quarante-six fois et « thanks » deux cent deux fois. Citons comme example « Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss » (TMP, 2.1.124), « I thank god and my cold blood” (ADO, 1.1.130). “I am even poor in thanks but I thank you (HAM, 2.2.273). On trouve aussi le le terme Allemand « dank » qui a aussi été utilisé pour remercier dans « by gar, me dank you for dat » (WIV, 2.3.90). / Scenes of Thanking in Shakespeare’s World examines how Shakespeare makes of the word “thanks” and the expression “thank you” a dramatic art of thanking in his plays. Through this research, thanking scenes are selected according to the frequency of the word “thanks”. However, the occurrence of the word solely does not define a scene of thanking. Shakespeare’s plays incorporate verbal and non-verbal thanking. Verbal thanking occurs as a speech act or a polite answer to acknowledge or praise a benefit received, while a non-verbal thanking is sometimes presented under forms of social rituals and practices such as gift giving, sacrifice, prayer and religious songs. This thesis’ corpus is composed of history plays, Romeo and Juliet, All’s Well that Ends Well, Pericles, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, and The Winter’s Tale. This selection is based on some criteria considered by the researcher, such as the frequency of the word in the scene or the play and its role in the plot or characters’ state of mind. Shakespeare artfully makes thanking an iconic code on the stage, creating conventionalised forms, expressions and contexts for it to be uttered.

In a theoretical part of diploma thesis is presented a gratitude and psychological conceptions of this phenomenon. Gratitude can be an emotion, disposition, life approach or a virtue. Gratitude has effect on different aspects of well-being. We can measure gratitude by different tools and cultivate it by different ways. In our research we tried to increase well-being by intervention of gratitude. We compared efficacy of the intervention of gratitude with the intervention known as ,,three good things". We also wanted to know if a belief in efficacy of intervention can change a scores of well-being. We tried to discover short-term and long-term effects. Our sample was created by 153 university students but only 56 of them stayed up to the end of study. We chose following method for measuring: GQ-6, Questionnaire of life satisfaction, Positivity Self Test, Zung's self rating inventory of depression and Beck's inventory of anxiety. Participants were randomly put into the one of three group (intervention of gratidue, intervention ,,three good things" and comparison). Data were counted by multilevel linear regression. We found out no significant differences. Due to very small sample this conclusion is not surprising.

<p>Theorists conceptualize gratitude as incorporating either an <i>interpersonal perspective</i> in which an individual feels or gives thanks to another person as the source of a provided benefit, or an <i>impersonal perspective</i> in which one’s feelings of gratitude are not necessarily directed to other human beings as the beneficial source, but rather feelings of gratitude are attributed to a nonhuman source (e.g., nature, fate, luck, God, the cosmos). This latter perspective maintains that not only do people feel gratitude for valued benefits provided by another person (i.e., interpersonal source), but people can also experience gratitude for valued benefits that do not emerge or originate from others (i.e., impersonal source). Theorists also posit that over time, people can take any particular benefit for granted (i.e., habituate), failing to experience feelings of gratitude because they presume that the availability of a benefit/source is stable and certain, and unlikely to be lost. By comparison, evidence suggests that perceiving uncertainty or the potential loss of a benefit/source inspires a greater sense of gratitude. Reflecting on the pragmatic uncertainty of finite benefits/resources that are frequently taken for granted should lead to enhanced feelings of gratefulness. </p> <p>Although the majority of empirical work examining feelings and functions of gratitude is structured around an interpersonal source perspective in which people receive one-time benefits, investigations focused on gratitude for impersonal sources of benefits remain scant and understudied. The present research follows from McCullough’s (2001) and Watkins’ (2014) call to increase empirical research examining gratitude in contexts in which the source does not involve a human benefactor. The current work including a pilot test and four studies (N = 1459) offers such an examination. The findings from this initial set of studies demonstrated some evidence that those with pro-environmental attitudes exhibited increased gratitude for water when provided with specific information about water’s value (vs an unrelated topic) (Study 1). I also found that people with more pro-environmental attitudes value water more when water is presented as a relatively more uncertain resource (Study 2). The effect of certainty on gratitude was replicated in Study 3, showing that those in a low certainty condition were more grateful for water than those in a high certainty condition. Moreover, gratitude for water predicted the intent to perform water conservation behaviors and interest in water conservation volunteering (Study 3). I also found some evidence that habituation mediated the effect between the perceived certainty of a benefit and lower gratitude, suggesting that people experience less gratitude for benefits they take for granted, in part, because they think less about them (Study 4). However, this affect only appeared consistently among more liberal, pro-environmental people. The current research contributes to and expands gratitude theory and research by providing some initial evidence that feelings of gratitude can serve broader adaptive purposes than is currently theorized. Thus, gratitude not only helps people identify and bond with social benefactors, but it also may serve as a generalized psychological system that prompts people to recognize and positively respond to most any form of benefit/source. </p>

The thesis investigates ways of communicating gratitude are perceived and realised in Jordan and England. It focuses on the impact of several variables on the expression of gratitude and examines the differences between the data elicited by pragmatic research instruments (DCT and role-play). Data were collected from native speakers: 46 Jordanian Arabic, 46 English natives using DCTs, role-plays and interviews. Slight similarities and significant cross-cultural differences were revealed in terms of gratitude expressions’ perception, number and strategy type. This cultural contrast reveals differences in the sociolinguistic patterns of conveying gratitude in verbal and nonverbal communication. The most important theoretical finding is that the data, while consistent with many views found in the existing literature, do not support Brown and Levinson’s (1987) claim that communicating gratitude intrinsically threatens the speaker’s negative face. Rather, it is argued that gratitude should be viewed as a means of establishing and sustaining social relationships. The findings suggest that cultural variation in expressing gratitude is due to the high degree of sensitivity to the interplay of several social and contextual variables. The findings provide worthwhile insights into theoretical issues concerning the nature of communicative acts, the relation between types of communicative acts and the general principles of human communication, especially rapport between people in social interaction, as well as the relation between culture-specific and universal features of communicative activity types. Differences were found between pragmatic research instruments. The outcomes indicate that using a mixture of methods is preferable as long as this serves the aim of the study as it merges their advantages by eliciting spontaneous data in controlled settings. The ramifications of this study for future multi-dimensional investigations of the contrasts between Arabic and English speaking cultures are expected to prove particularly significant in virtue of corroborating or refuting existing findings and in this way paving the way for new research.

This dissertation contributes to the literature on resiliency and character strengths. College students (N = 223) were administered questionnaires to determine the hassles they experienced in the last month, as well as their levels of life satisfaction, resiliency, and the four character strengths of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Gratitude, Humility/Modesty, and Love. Reponses to the Ego Resiliency Scale were used to divide students into the following three groups: resilient, moderate-resilient, and low-resilient. Self-reported levels of life satisfaction, Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Gratitude, Humility/Modesty, and Love were compared across the three groups to determine whether they were significantly related to resiliency. The results indicate that Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Gratitude, and Humility/Modesty had a significant relationship with resiliency, but that Love did not. Resilient students' levels of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence as well as Gratitude were significantly higher than those of low-resilient students. However, resilient students' levels of Humility/Modesty were significantly lower than those of low-resilient students. Although Love was not significantly related to resiliency, the levels of Love for resilient students were relatively higher than those of low-resilient students. Life satisfaction also was significantly related to resiliency. Resilient students' levels of life satisfaction were significantly higher than those of low-resilient students. Gratitude and Love predicted students' levels of life satisfaction. Therefore, Gratitude seems to be the essential character strength related to both resiliency and life satisfaction among college students.