gratitude (noun)

a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation

"he was overwhelmed with gratitude for their help"

gratitude (Noun)

The state of being grateful.

Gratitude

Gratitude, thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. The experience of gratitude has historically been a focus of several world religions, and has been considered extensively by moral philosophers such as Adam Smith. The systematic study of gratitude within psychology only began around the year 2000, possibly because psychology has traditionally been focused more on understanding distress rather than understanding positive emotions. However, with the advent of the positive psychology movement, gratitude has become a mainstream focus of psychological research. The study of gratitude within psychology has focused on the understanding of the short term experience of the emotion of gratitude, individual differences in how frequently people feel gratitude, and the relationship between these two aspects.

Gratitude

Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness is from the Latin word gratus, which means "pleasing" or "thankful." Is regarded as a feeling of appreciation (or similar positive response) by a recipient of another's kindness. This can be gifts, help, favors, or another form of generosity to another person. The absence of gratitude where gratitude is expected is called ingratitude or ungratefulness. Historically, gratitude has been a part of several world religions. It also has been a topic of interest to ancient, medieval, and modern philosophers.The systematic study of gratitude within the field of psychology began in 1998 when Martin Seligman introduced a new branch of psychology that he termed positive psychology. This new branch adds a new focus on the reinforcement of positive traits. The study of gratitude in psychology has included an attempt to understand the short term experience of the gratitude response (state gratitude), individual differences in how frequently gratitude is felt among individuals (trait gratitude), and the relationship between these two. The therapeutic benefits of gratitude have also been taken into consideration.