The World That Helps People Of All Backgrounds - 1451 Words

We are living in a world that seeks answers to everything. We aim for perfection by working on our strengths and weaknesses as human beings. With technological advantages, people aim to live as long as possible with optimal functioning in the body and mind. It has been a goal in human existence to maintain ourselves in any way we can. One way this is done is through gratitude. Gratitude has been regarded as universally valuable, tracing back to the beginning of time. Ever since the 1930s researchers have tried to measure how effectively gratitude helps people of all backgrounds (Bono, Emmons, McCullough, 2004). Cultures define gratitude based on the way they perceive it. Western society regards gratitude as something that is needed†¦show more content†¦Gratitude, which involves an appreciation of life, invokes positive emotions and, overtime, may cause an improvement in wellbeing (McCullough, Emmons, Tsang, 2002). Studies have shown that gratitude has different relationshi ps with each of the Big Five traits, but they all showed associations to gratitude (Wood, Joseph, Maltby, 2008, 2009). We can interpret from this research that gratitude’s effects on wellbeing goes beyond personality traits despite the subjectivity of wellbeing. Research has shown that gratitude has a significant impact on wellbeing. It would be helpful to evaluate whether gratitude can improve wellbeing, as this would be helpful to those with low wellbeing. Mood Wellbeing also includes mood. Experiencing a mood occurs in two ways: the mood is experienced, and then there are judgments of the mood (Mayer Gaschke, 1988). Since the mood and its cognitions are experienced, they should be measured together when determining mood. Moods can involve negative and positive emotions. Positive emotions might cause someone to have a positive mood, and vice versa. Positive emotions allow people to develop skills to rely on when experiencing more negative emotions (Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan, Tugade, 2000). Not only do positive emotions help with coping skills, but they develop into a positive mood over time. Pressman, Gallagher, and Lopez (2013) found that positive emotions contribute to the overall health of an