ABSTRACT
Gratitude was once the province of philosophers and theologians. During the past decade, or so, however, psychologists have produced an impressive body of work on this topic. These contributions have generally fallen under the guise of what is called “positive psychology.” Common assumptions in the positive psychology literature are: (i) some traits/attitudes, including gratitude, are positive or healthy; (ii) some traits/attitudes, including ungratefulness, are negative or unhealthy; and (iii) there are things individuals can do to cultivate positive traits/attitudes and to extinguish negative ones. The capacities to cultivate and extinguish traits are important for various reasons, one of which is that some endorse what is called the principle of emotional incompatibility. According to this principle, positive emotions are incompatible with negative emotions; each works against the other.
