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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 2, 2026

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Gratitude increases third-party punishment.

Jonathan Vayness¹, Fred Duong¹, David DeSteno¹

¹Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.

Cognition & Emotion

|December 10, 2019

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Gratitude increases third-party punishment, where individuals penalize wrongdoers. This emotion enhances cooperation by deterring unfair behavior, even when not directly harmed.

Keywords:

Gratitude emotion morality third-party punishment

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Area of Science:

Social Psychology
Behavioral Economics
Moral Psychology

Background:

Third-party punishment involves individuals penalizing transgressors who did not directly harm them.
Gratitude is known to promote cooperation and increase the perceived value of future rewards.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether gratitude enhances third-party punishment.
To explore gratitude's potential role in promoting future cooperative behavior.

Main Methods:

Two experiments were conducted using a dictator game paradigm.
Participants were induced into states of gratitude, happiness, or neutrality.
Decisions on punishment expenditures were recorded based on varying degrees of transgression.

Main Results:

Punishment decreased as the dictator's actions became fairer across all emotional states.
Participants in a gratitude state exhibited significantly higher third-party punishment than neutral or happy participants.
This effect was observed particularly in non-altruistic dictator splits.

Conclusions:

Gratitude can significantly increase third-party punishment.
This finding supports the theory that gratitude promotes prosocial behavior by discouraging future transgressions.
Gratitude may serve as a crucial emotion in maintaining social order and cooperation.