Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
7-2020
Abstract
Considerable research has examined the relationship between positive emotion and cognitive flexibility. Less is known, however, about the causal relationship between discrete positive emotions, specifically gratitude, and cognitive flexibility. Given that different positive emotions may dissimilarly affect cognitive functioning, we sought to examine the effect of state gratitude on cognitive flexibility. A pilot study with ninety-five participants was employed to ensure the effectiveness of our gratitude manipulation. One hundred and thirteen participants were recruited for the main study, which utilized a within-subject experimental approach. After the manipulation, participants completed a well-established task-switching paradigm, which was used to measure cognitive flexibility. Contrary to our hypotheses, we did not find any evidence that state gratitude may enhance cognitive flexibility. The current study identified some boundary conditions around the potential benefits of the experience of gratitude.
Keywords
cognitive flexibility, gratitude, prefrontal cortex, positive emotions
Discipline
Cognition and Perception | Cognitive Psychology
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Brain Sciences
Volume
10
Issue
7
First Page
1
Last Page
11
ISSN
2076-3425
Identifier
10.3390/brainsci10070413
Publisher
MDPI
Citation
HARTANTO, Andree, ONG, Nadia Cui Hui, NG, Wee Qin, & NADYANNA BINTE MOHAMED MAJEED, .(2020). The effect of state gratitude on cognitive flexibility: A within-subject experimental approach. Brain Sciences, 10(7), 1-11.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3212
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10070413