The security of being grateful: Gratitude promotes risk aversion in decision-making

摘要

Few existing research has tested the effects of gratitude in risk decisions. The current study conducted four experiments with MTurk samples to test the primary hypothesis that gratitude promotes risk aversion in decision making. Results from Study 1 (N = 228) with a measure of dispositional gratitude and Study 2 (N = 125) by priming grateful experience showed that gratitude led to risk aversion, in particular, under gain framing. Study 3 (N = 126) offered an explanation by showing a partial mediation of present focus for the effect of gratitude on risk preference. Study 4 (N = 126) extended the finding to situations where people estimated others' decisions and showed that gratitude led one to believe that others are risk averse in decision making. These results documented the cognitive benefit of gratitude in decision making and suggested a need to study how discrete emotions, such as gratitude, influence risk decisions.