ABSTRACT
Psychological research into gratitude has led to the conclusion within that literature that gratitude is strongly related to well-being in a possibly unique and causal manner (Wood, Froh & Geraghty 2010). Much more research is needed however, and in this chapter we advise some caution with regard to previous work. In the context of this volume’s interdisciplinary enquiry into gratitude, we highlight that one key weakness of the current literature is the lack of cross-discipline cohesion, which may be related to the challenges being experienced by the psychological literature into gratitude. As psychologists, we do not claim familiarity with all philosophical issues concerning gratitude, although some philosophical literature has been brought to our attention whilst working on this chapter. This work appears to run parallel with, but disparate to, psychological publications. There appears to be little referencing between disciplines, and both sides have pursued similar arguments independently, suggesting that other academics investigating gratitude may share our limited knowledge of work produced by other disciplines. A key contribution of this volume will be to address that deficiency and provide a broader understanding of gratitude for both psychologists and philosophers alike.
