Gratitude reflection : its effect on levels of gratitude, happiness and materialism among third level students
Authors
Zekanovic, Lia
Issue Date
2016
Degree
BA (Hons) in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
Items in Esource are protected by copyright. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/copyright holder.
Abstract
The purpose of this true experiment, is to examine the effects of momentary gratitude reflection among third level students, on levels of gratitude, materialism and happiness. A between participant’s design was implemented. The control group’s (n= 32) task involved completing a word search containing non emotive words and the experimental group’s (n= 27) task involved participating in a gratitude reflection intervention; both part time (n= 27) and full time (n= 32) students were recruited from Dublin Business School. Both tasks took ten minutes. Afterwards participants completed a questionnaire booklet containing the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, the Short-Form GRAT questionnaire and the Material Value Scales. The sole significant result found that the control group was happier than the experimental group. Results obtained conflicted with prior research. The study explored its strengths and limitations. It was concluded that statistically non significant does not equal psychological non significance. Suggestions for further directions were discussed. Author keywords: Gratitude intervention, gratitude, materialism, happiness