Gratitude Journaling
Regular practice of recording things one is grateful for, linked to wellbeing outcomes.
Gratitude Journaling is the regular practice of writing down specific things, people, or events for which one feels grateful, typically with attention to why and how the grateful experience came about. The practice was substantially developed and studied empirically by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough at UC Davis, with their 2003 paper 'Counting Blessings versus Burdens' establishing the basic empirical framework. Common variants include: nightly Three Good Things (Seligman's positive-psychology intervention — write three things that went well today and why); weekly gratitude letters (writing detailed letters to people whose contributions one is grateful for, sometimes delivered, sometimes not); and structured gratitude journals listing five-or-so specific items per entry. The practice is part of Positive Psychology's intervention toolkit and has accumulated substantial trial evidence for modest improvements in subjective wellbeing, life satisfaction, and prosocial behavior, with smaller and more variable effects on depression and anxiety symptoms.
Core components
- Regular writing of specific things one is grateful for
- Specificity preference (concrete events and people over abstract categories)
- Variants: Three Good Things (Seligman, daily, with why-explanations)
- Weekly gratitude listing
- Gratitude letter writing (sometimes delivered)
- Linking to broader Positive Psychology framework
- Pairs with savoring practices
Primary use case
Positive Psychology interventions for subjective well-being; clinical adjunct in depression and anxiety treatment; school-based positive education; workplace wellbeing programs; relationship interventions; self-help and coaching applications; integration with broader gratitude practices.
Common criticisms
- Meta-analyses show modest effect sizes that often fade with continued practice (the practice can become rote)
- substantially weaker effects than initial enthusiasm suggested in some recent reviews
- risks bypassing legitimate negative emotions and circumstances by training attention away from problems that warrant action rather than reframing
- cultural variation in gratitude expression affects practice fit
- commercial gratitude-journal industry sometimes overstates evidence
- works less well when people are in acute distress or when gratitude entries become forced
- adverse effects rare but reported in some clinical populations.
Lineage
- Child of
- Journaling
- Siblings
- Journaling, Morning Pages, Positive Psychology
- Derived from
- Journaling