That is, people can express gratitude to other people and can be grateful in general without expressing the sentiment to a particular person. Others have considered dispositional gratitude to be akin to a more general positive outlook on life ( Wood et al., 2010). When conceptualized as a trait, gratitude can be thought of as “a generalized tendency to recognize and respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people’s benevolence in the positive experiences and outcomes that one obtains” ( McCullough et al., 2002, p. Gratitude as a trait or disposition is characterized as a higher order factor of daily or momentary states ( McCullough et al., 2002). Between-persons, people may vary in terms of how frequently or intensely they feel or express gratitude. Similar to other affective constructs, gratitude can be conceptualized as a state or trait ( Mccullough et al., 2002). Gratitude has also been associated with better subjective physical health ( Hill et al., 2013). Not surprisingly, gratitude has been positively associated with well-being ( Wood et al., 2010), and experimental and longitudinal studies show that the link from gratitude to well-being is causal ( Emmons & McCullough, 2003, 2004 Nezlek et al., 2017 Wood et al., 2010). As a primarily social emotion, gratitude fosters social relationships and can bind people together ( Algoe, 2012 Gordon et al., 2012). Gratitude has been linked to various positive physical and psychological outcomes. In the current research, we examine the unique roles of dispositional gratitude and optimism in shaping daily physical and psychological experiences, behaviors, and thoughts. Two positive traits that share some similar characteristics, but also some unique aspects, are gratitude and optimism. Each disposition may provide unique and nuanced benefits, and they may interact in distinct ways. Positive outlooks can be characterized and defined in various ways and are often measured as individual differences or dispositions. Some people may have relatively positive outlooks on life, whereas others may not view the world through such rose-colored lenses. How people view the world can have important consequences for their health and well-being. These associations reveal both similar and differential influences of positive dispositions on psychological and physiological outcomes that provide insight into health consequences. However, gratitude and optimism were not completely overlapping constructs: Gratitude was a stronger predictor of felt appreciation toward others and pleasantness when reflecting on the best part of the day, whereas optimism was a stronger predictor of sleep quality, lower stress, and lower unpleasantness when reflecting on the worst part of the day. Trait gratitude and trait optimism both predicted lower heart rate and blood pressure, better sleep quality, more exercise, less stress, more positive expectations and reflections, and greater feelings of appreciation toward others. To examine their associations with physiological and psychological experiences in daily life, we examined data from an Ecological Momentary Assessment study ( N = 4,825), including blood pressure, heart rate, and reports of stress, health behaviors, and thoughts. Gratitude and optimism are positive psychological dispositions associated with beneficial outcomes.
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