Thanksgiving Greetings: A Scientific Approach To Gratitude

Pandemic Gratitude

As we spend more time with our families during a holiday season dominated by the pandemic, a theme once again lights the atmosphere: gratitude. Starting with Thanksgiving, a holiday literally based on the principle of thanking all that has sustained and provided for us, the holiday months seem to emanate a positive aura.

But, we are amidst a pandemic, and while it may seem futile to be grateful as suffering surrounds us, modern neuroscience research suggests that developing a habit of gratitude is beneficial to our physical and mental health. 

It has been proven that those who count their blessings and repeatedly think about who or what has done something for their well-being are less likely to be depressed, but recently, more specific research brings forth insightful results.

A Psychological Take

A team of scientists and psychologists at Indiana University gathered 300 individuals (mostly students) seeking counseling and divided them into three groups: one wrote letters of gratitude to a new person each week, another wrote deeply about negative experiences, and the last group did not write anything. Their finding was simple but as they had hypothesized - the group that wrote gratitude letters showed far greater improvements in mental health than the other two groups.

“This suggests that gratitude writing can be beneficial for not only healthy, well-adjusted individuals, but also for those who struggle with mental health,” says Dr. Joshua Brown, a psychology and brain sciences professor at Indiana University.

Their research explained further that it was not simply the use of positive words that provided a boost in contentment, but also the lack of negative words in letters. In other words, shifting awareness from negative emotions makes it more difficult to dwell on experiences that lead to jealousy, envy, and rage.

At the neurophysiological level, the team discovered that unlike some activities whose positive effects on mental health dwindle in the long-term, gratitude-oriented actions have lasting influences on the brain.

For instance, in a similar study involving an fMRI scanner, those that were engaging in charitable activities with the motivation of gratitude (The intention was recorded by taking a poll of each participant. Guilt and obligation were not considered identical motivations as gratefulness) experienced high neural sensitivity in the prefrontal cortex - the region of the brain associated with higher cognitive activities and societal decision making.

Generally, people with high activity in this region of the brain exhibit increased sense of self-awareness, assessment of good and bad, and contentment. Moreover, this sensitivity persisted for a few months after the experiment, which allowed scientists to argue that activities that require deep thinking on gratitude can have lasting positive neurological and psychological effects.

Often, including this time of year, we hear and read emphasis on being grateful for a homo sapien birth and even the idea that being human requires being grateful. It is almost an a priori requirement. Of course, the sheer probability of being born as a human is nearly nil, but considering the prefrontal cortex, it can be quite literal.

That region of the brain is one of the last to evolve, as scientists do see early stages of this region in the Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus. But, considering that we have the largest cortex amongst primates and mammals, it is generally accepted now that the cerebral (and specifically prefrontal) cortex has evolved tremendously to our current stage.

Gratitude - The Human Potential

Clearly, on Earth, it seems no other living being before us has had the potential for this much neural activity in the prefrontal cortex. In a paper published in Scientific American exactly a decade ago, animal scientists expressed an uncertainty in the non-human ability to express gratitude. “We know that chimps and other non-human primates possess a very basic form of proto-gratitude. They can keep track of favors.” While we still may be unsure of the limiting capacity of the rest of the animal kingdom, we definitely know that the human capacity within the prefrontal cortex is an entire sea of potential.

Generally speaking, as much as the research shows, this potential is uniquely human. So, complex thinking and habits that allow us to be grateful and introspect on the cause of our well-being and thereby reciprocate, are uniquely human - literally. 

The pandemic has affected humanity and the animal kingdom indiscriminately in a manner that seconds none in the last century. While a virus that has only a few nanometers in diameter takes lives, it may also remind us of our humanity.

We maintain the capability to be reflective; we maintain the capability to be aware; we maintain the capability to be grateful. Yes, most people directly experiencing the pandemic may find it more difficult than ever to develop a habit of gratitude during this season.

In a time that forces us to think about what we don’t have, it becomes painstakingly tiresome to introspect about what we do have. But, it may be the call of time.

If our psychology depends on gratefulness as the basis of a positive worldview, then it seems there may be no better time - if we do not develop this contemplative habit in a period highlighted by plenty of aloneness to meditate on our existence, then will we ever?