The Moral Psychology of Gratitude

The Moral Psychology of Gratitude
Author: Robert Roberts
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2019-01-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1786606038

Expressions of gratitude abound. Hardly a book is published that does not include in its preface or acknowledgments some variation on, “I am grateful to…for…” Indeed, most achievements come to be only through the help of others. We value the benevolence of others, and when we—or our loved ones—are the recipients of benevolence, our emotional response is often one of gratitude. But, are we bound to the requirement of ‘repaying’ our benefactors in some way? If we are, and there are—as ordinary language suggests—debts of gratitude, what kind of debts are these? Does the appropriateness of my gratitude require that my benefactor in fact intended to benefit me (in just the way she did)? Is there a difference between feeling grateful and being grateful? Is a precondition of my being grateful to another that I respect her? Do we owe a special sort of gratitude to those who have shaped us into the persons we are? What are the psychological and normative relations between gratitude the emotion, and gratitude the virtue? These are among the questions carefully addressed in The Moral Psychology of Gratitude. This volume provides readers with the state-of-the-art in research on gratitude. It does so in the form of sixteen never-before published articles on the emotion by leading voices in philosophy and the sciences of the mind.

Thanks!

Thanks!
Author: Robert A. Emmons
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2008
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780547085739

A scientifically groundbreaking, eloquent look at how we benefit -- psychologically, physically, and interpersonally -- when we practice gratitude. In Thanks!, Robert Emmons draws on the first major study of the subject of gratitude, of “wanting what we have,” and shows that a systematic cultivation of this underexamined emotion can measurably change people’s lives."--

The Psychology of Gratitude

The Psychology of Gratitude
Author: Robert A. Emmons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2004-02-26
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0195348729

Gratitude, like other positive emotions, has inspired many theological and philosophical writings, but it has inspired very little vigorous, empirical research. In an effort to remedy this oversight, this volume brings together prominent scientists from various disciplines to examine what has become known as the most-neglected emotion. The volume begins with the historical, philosophical, and theoretical foundations of gratitude, then presents the current research perspectives from social, personality, and developmental psychology, as well as from primatology, anthropology, and biology. The volume also includes a comprehensive, annotated bibliography of research on gratitude. This work contributes a great deal to the growing positive psychology initiative and to the scientific investigation of positive human emotions. It will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students in social, personality, and developmental, clinical, and health psychology, as well as to sociologists and cultural anthropologists.

Gratitude and the Good Life

Gratitude and the Good Life
Author: Philip C. Watkins
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2013-09-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 940077253X

This book provides clear and sometimes surprising answers to why gratitude is important to living well. The science of gratitude has shown much growth in the last ten years, and there is now sufficient evidence to suggest that gratitude is one of the most important components of the good life. Both correlational and experimental studies have provided support for the theory that gratitude enhances well-being. After providing a lucid understanding of gratitude, this volume explores the many aspects of well-being that are associated with gratitude. Moreover, experimental work has now provided promising evidence to suggest that gratitude actually causes enhancements in happiness. If gratitude promotes human flourishing, how does it do so? This issue is addressed in the second section of the book by exploring the mechanisms that might explain the gratitude/well-being relationship. This book provides an up to date account of gratitude research and suggested interesting paths for future research, all while providing a theory of gratitude that helps make this information more understandable. This book is very valuable to gratitude investigators, as well as all who are interested in pursuing this line of research, students and scholars of emotion and well-being and instructors of positive psychology courses and seminars.

Perspectives on Gratitude

Perspectives on Gratitude
Author: David Carr
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016-02-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317568435

Psychologists, philosophers, theologians and educationalists have all lately explored various conceptual, moral, psychological and pedagogical dimensions of gratitude in a rapidly expanding academic and popular literature. However, while the distinguished contributors to this work hail from these distinct disciplines, they have been brought together in this volume precisely in recognition of the need for a more interdisciplinary perspective on the topic. While further developing such more familiar debates in the field as whether it is appropriate to feel grateful in circumstances in which there is no obvious benefactor, whether it is proper to feel grateful to those who have benefited one only from a sense of duty and whether it makes sense to be grateful if so doing colludes with injustice, the essays in this collection explore a wide variety of fresh conceptual, psychological and moral issues. For example, in addition to identifying some new moral paradoxes about gratitude and seeking a generally more morally discriminating approach to gratitude education, relations are explored between gratitude and humility, forgiveness and appreciation and the religious and spiritual dimensions of the concept are also given much overdue attention. By drawing together serious academic engagement with the study of gratitude and a serious attempt to undertake this within an interdisciplinary perspective, Perspectives on Gratitude will be of value to academics and graduate students in the fields of philosophy, psychology and theology, as well as other research-based disciplines.

How We Hope

How We Hope
Author: Adrienne Martin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0691171394

What exactly is hope and how does it influence our decisions? In How We Hope, Adrienne Martin presents a novel account of hope, the motivational resources it presupposes, and its function in our practical lives. She contends that hoping for an outcome means treating certain feelings, plans, and imaginings as justified, and that hope thereby involves sophisticated reflective and conceptual capacities. Martin develops this original perspective on hope--what she calls the "incorporation analysis"--in contrast to the two dominant philosophical conceptions of hope: the orthodox definition, where hoping for an outcome is simply desiring it while thinking it possible, and agent-centered views, where hoping for an outcome is setting oneself to pursue it. In exploring how hope influences our decisions, she establishes that it is not always a positive motivational force and can render us complacent. She also examines the relationship between hope and faith, both religious and secular, and identifies a previously unnoted form of hope: normative or interpersonal hope. When we place normative hope in people, we relate to them as responsible agents and aspire for them to overcome challenges arising from situation or character. Demonstrating that hope merits rigorous philosophical investigation, both in its own right and in virtue of what it reveals about the nature of human emotion and motivation, How We Hope offers an original, sustained look at a largely neglected topic in philosophy.

The Moral Psychology of Regret

The Moral Psychology of Regret
Author: Anna Gotlib
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2019-10-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1786602539

What kind of an emotion is regret? What difference does it make whether, how, and why we experience it, and how does this experience shape our current and future thoughts, decisions, goals? Under what conditions is regret appropriate? Is it always one kind of experience, or does it vary, based on who is doing the regretting, and why? How is regret different from other backward-looking emotions? In The Moral Psychology of Regret, scholars from several disciplines—including philosophy, gender studies, disability studies, law, and neuroscience—come together to address these and other questions related to this ubiquitous emotion that so many of us seem to dread. And while regret has been somewhat under-theorized as a subject worthy of serious and careful attention, this volume is offered with the intent of expanding the discourse on regret as an emotion of great moral significance that underwrites how we understand ourselves and each other.

The Moral Psychology of Hope

The Moral Psychology of Hope
Author: Claudia Blöser
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2019-11-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1786609738

That we can hope is one of the capacities that define us as human beings. To hope means not just to have beliefs about what will happen, but to imagine the future as potentially fulfilling some of our most important wishes. It is therefore not surprising that hope has received attention by philosophers, psychologists and by religious thinkers throughout the ages. The contributions in this volume, written by leading scholars in the philosophy of hope, gives a systematic overview over the philosophical history of hope, about contemporary debates and about the role of hope in our collective life.

The Moral Psychology of Compassion

The Moral Psychology of Compassion
Author: Justin Caouette
Publisher: Moral Psychology of the Emotions
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-01-14
Genre: Compassion
ISBN: 9781786604194

Compassion is widely regarded as an important moral emotion - a fitting response to various cases of suffering and misfortune. Yet contemporary theorists have rarely given it sustained attention. This volume aims to fill this gap by offering answers to a number of questions surrounding this emotion. These questions include: What is the nature of compassion? How does compassion differ from other emotions, such as empathy, pity, or gratitude? Is compassion a virtue? Can we have too much compassion? How does compassion influence other mental states (desires, motivations, beliefs, and intentions) and behaviour? How is compassion influenced by the environment? Must compassion be deserved? Can one be moral while lacking the capacity for compassion? Compassion, like other emotions, has many facets - biological, social, psychological and neural, among others. The contributors to this volume will draw on a variety of disciplines and methods in order to develop a more systematic and comprehensive understanding of this often-neglected moral emotion.