THANKFULLY, THEY LISTEN: GRATITUDE AND OBEDIENCE TO HARM OTHERS

Abstract

Traditional research has established gratitude as a prosocial emotion, encouraging helping behaviors to benefit others. However, the current paper expands on a novel conceptualization of gratitude. Building upon the social alignment theory of gratitude which proposes that gratitude increases tendencies to follow social conventions, we propose that grateful individuals obey to greater extents orders to criticize and undermine a scholarship essay, even if it sabotages the applicant. This finding would contradict conventional views of gratitude, challenging it as a purely prosocial emotion. We further propose that this effect could be mediated by trust in the benefactor. In a between-subjects experiment, participants were randomly induced with either gratitude, neutral or gratitude with lowered trust. Participants were then ordered to harshly criticize a scholarship essay, with their comments acting as the operationalized measure of obedience. Our results provide partial support for the hypothesis, where individuals in the gratitude (without lowered trust) condition provided evaluations that were more negative and thus harsher on the scholarship applicant than neutral participants. However, results failed to reflect support for trust in the benefactor as a mediator. The finding provides preliminary support for the social alignment theory in influencing obedience, showing that gratitude can elicit harmful behaviors through misguided obedience. A more comprehensive understanding of gratitude is thus required that acknowledges the potential missteps of the emotion.