Open AccessWhat Is Gratitude? Ingratitude Provides the Answer
Author(s) -
Jessica L. Navarro,
Jonathan Tudge
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
human development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.232
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1423-0054
pISSN - 0018-716X
DOI - 10.1159/000511185
Subject(s) - gratitude , obligation , scholarship , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , happiness , social psychology , economic justice , virtue , psychology , sociology , epistemology , law , political science , philosophy
Current scholarship on “gratitude” has largely ignored its opposite – ingratitude. As a result, gratitude is no longer distinguishable from constructs such as appreciation and happiness. This was not the case over previous centuries – ingratitude was viewed as something monstrous, a failure to reciprocate would loosen the bonds holding society together. The opposite, gratitude, was seen as a virtue. Reciprocity has come under attack because “obligation” has been understood in only one of two possible senses. The first relates to contracts and justice – one has a heteronomous obligation to pay off a debt or fulfill a contract. The second is a sense of obligation that comes from within, autonomously – the desire to help those that have helped us. Here, we argue, is where gratitude and ingratitude are situated. This view has two important consequences; one relates to the measurement of gratitude and the other to raising youth to be grateful people.