Elevation

“Elevation” is scientists’ name for the uplifting feeling we get when we see people performing great acts of kindness; it is associated with a warmth in one’s chest and feeling moved to be a better person. Importantly, feeling elevated inspires people to be more generous, perhaps to emulate the moral acts of others.

We believe that gratitude makes people feel elevated—which then bolsters their motivation and effort towards self-improvement.

Notably, we have found evidence for this idea among both undergraduates and working adults. In one six-week study, we prompted undergraduates either to write a letter of gratitude each week to someone who did something kind for them or to list their daily activities. All of the students were then instructed to do acts of kindness for others as a self-improvement activity. Students who expressed gratitude reported feeling more elevated—and these feelings of elevation were linked with exerting more effort on their kind acts for others. Therefore, elevation may be one way that expressing gratitude can motivate students to try harder to be a better, kinder person.

In a similar four-week study, we prompted corporate employees to write weekly gratitude letters to someone who either helped them in general, helped them with their work, or helped them with their health. These employees were then encouraged to try to improve themselves by either becoming kinder, excelling at work, or improving their health. Employees in a fourth group were instructed only to list their daily activities each week and focus on general self-improvement. All employees had the freedom to choose which steps they took to improve themselves.

Notably, relative to employees who only listed their daily activities each week, employees who wrote any of the three types of gratitude letters felt moved, uplifted, and inspired to be better people—which then increased their productivity at work and boosted their sense of autonomy at the end of the study. These findings suggest that elevation—that is, feeling inspired and uplifted—may motivate us not only to become healthier, more generous people but also better, more productive workers.

Credits: Christina N. Armenta, M.A., is a doctoral candidate in the Positive Activities and Well-Being Lab at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on whether positive activities, such as expressing gratitude, can motivate self-improvement efforts. Most of her work has explored this phenomenon in applied settings such as workplaces and high schools around the world.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., is professor of psychology at UC Riverside and the author of the best-selling books The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness.