Francesca Gino, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, explores a range of fascinating subjects in her new book. Gino's new book also highlights the science of gratitude.
In two of the gratitude experiments, Gino worked with Professor Adam Grant of the Wharton School. They first asked 57 students to give feedback to a fictitious (虚构的) student, Eric, regarding his cover letter for a job. Half were emailed a brief confirmation without gratitude. The other half received gratitude: "I received your feedback on my cover letter. I am really grateful."
When Gino and Grant measured the students' sense of self-worth afterwards, 25 percent of the group that received just an acknowledgement felt higher level of self-worth, compared with 55 percent of the group that received thanks.
In a follow-up experiment, participants received a message from another fictitious student Steven, asking for feedback on his cover letter. Would participants who had received thanks from Eric be more likely to help Steven? Indeed, more than half of the students in the gratitude group (66 percent) helped Steven, compared with just 32 percent of those in the no-gratitude group.
"Receiving expression of gratitude makes us feel a heightened (增强的) sense of self-worth," Gino said.
Gino built on the research in a field study that looked at 41 fundraisers (募捐人) at a university, all receiving a fixed salary. The director visited half of the fundraisers in person, telling them, "I am very grateful for your hard work." The second group received no such expression of gratitude. Gino said that "the expression of gratitude increased the number of calls made by that group of fundraisers by more than 50 percent" for the week, while fundraisers who received no thanks made about the same number of calls as the previous week.
By missing chances to express gratitude, organizations and leaders lose relatively cost-free opportunities to motivate their employees, Gino said.
"The work behind my book really makes me think more carefully every time I am the one expressing gratitude to others. I don't want to miss opportunities. I have learned from my own research and now try to say ‘thank you' much more often", Gino added.
①People's sense of self-worth can make them work more efficiently.
②People who receive only an acknowledgement tend to feel embarrassed.
③Receiving thanks makes a difference to a person's sense of self-worth.
④The sense of self-worth can encourage people to have other helpful behaviors.
