The Cognitive, Emotional and Behavioral Indicators of Dispositional Gratitude in Close Friendship: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to investigate whether the perception of the value, cost and sincerity of a best friend's helping behaviors, the gratitude felt toward the best friend and general gratitude expression differ according to dispositional gratitude and gender. Moreover, situations in which people felt gratitude toward their best friends and their means of expressing gratitude were investigated. A total of 406 people, 230 female and 176 male, participated in this study. Gratitude, Resentment and Appreciation Test -Revised, Gratitude Expression Scale, Gratitude Cognitive Evaluation Form, Gratitude Adjective Scale and Demographic Information Form were used. In addition, participants were asked open-ended questions to write about an event where they were grateful to their friend and how they expressed their gratitude. The Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) results indicated that those high in dispositional gratitude were more likely to have stronger (a) perceptions of the value, cost and sincerity of their best friend's helping behaviors, (b) feelings of gratitude toward their best friend, and (c) gratitude expression. Additionally, the levels of gratitude expression for women were higher than those for men. Content analysis showed that the participants felt most grateful after receiving psychological and financial support from their friends and expressed their gratitude using verbal expression, nonverbal expression, or other-oriented expression styles. In parallel with the literature, the results of the study suggested that those high in dispositional gratitude were more aware of the behaviors of their best friends, and felt and expressed gratitude to them.

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