The dark side of gratitude: Gratitude could lead to moral violation

Appreciating social science research on gratitude: An integrative review for organizational scholarship on gratitude in the workplace

“…State gratitude can also facilitate affiliative behaviors in various forms such as socially affiliative decisions (Bartlett et al, 2012), social inclusion (Bartlett et al, 2012), mimicry (Jia et al, 2015), perspective taking (Gordon & Chen, 2013), dyadic adjustment (Kim et al, 2019), and social support (Lau & Cheng, 2017) while mitigating antisocial behaviors (Stieger et al, 2019). Finally, some experimental evidence indicates that state gratitude increases beneficiaries' willingness to violate moral norms (i.e., lying and avoiding due punishment) to protect their benefactors (Zhu et al, 2020).…”

“…For example, some recent experimental evidence has revealed that the beneficiary is more likely to punish third parties for moral transgressions, a behavior framed as prosocial because its aim is to increase future cooperation (Vayness et al, 2020). However, another experimental study found nonsignificant effects for third‐party punishment when the punishment given was designed to benefit the benefactor at the expense of the third party (Zhu et al, 2020). Although punishment, as a form of prosociality, was not theorized by McCullough et al (2001), it is in line with the findings that gratitude increases a focus on future rewards as opposed to present ones (DeSteno et al, 2014; Dickens & DeSteno, 2016) and is positively related to social justice behaviors (Michie, 2009).…”

“…To date, there have been only a few studies, so interpretations of the findings should be done with caution. However, two of the three studies in this area found that the effects of gratitude on antisocial behavior are transmitted through concern for others (DeWall et al, 2012; Zhu et al, 2020), whereas the third study found that this relationship was transmitted by personal resources (while controlling for other possible explanations; Locklear et al, 2021). Given the state of this literature, more research is needed to understand the similarities and differences among the relations between gratitude and prosocial outcomes and between gratitude and antisocial outcomes.…”

“…However, despite its evident benefits, preliminary research has also demonstrated that state and expressed gratitude may have downsides or dark sides (e.g., moral violations and suboptimal decisions). For example, some beneficiaries may place loyalty to benefactors above doing what is right when experiencing high state gratitude (e.g., Zhu et al, 2020). Similarly, evidence indicates perceivers' relational concerns may undermine their best interests by escalating their commitment to suboptimal decisions when they receive gratitude expressions from partners (Kong & Belkin, 2019a).…”

Helping as an opportunity and risk: an alternative side to gratitude in co-worker dyads

“…Another example may include sharing gossip to protect one's coworker from another colleague (Lee and Barnes, 2021). Research also suggests that grateful PR 52,7 individuals seek to build and promote relationships with benefactors, which may include lying to protect benefactors from harm (Zhu et al, 2020). Indeed, within co-worker dyads, actors and partners may engage in divergent prosocial behavior to benefit their partner or actor when the opportunity arises (Morrison, 2006).…”