The role of gratitude in promoting positive intergroup relationships

In recent years a very large body of evidence has emerged suggesting that gratitude is a social emotion strongly related to all aspects of personal and interpersonal well- being. Gratitude is elicited by kind acts toward the self made intentionally by a benefactor, motivating the self to reciprocate in kind. Gratitude also motivates the person to do good to others in general, not just to the benefactor. The adaptive function of gratitude therefore appears to be to strengthen social relationships Despite the recent proliferation of research on gratitude, a basic question that has yet to be addressed by the literature regards how gratitude might influence the intergroup relationships. The present study aimed at analyzing how gratitude is likely to affect attitudes and behavior intentions towards members of an outgroup. The general hypothesis was that intergroup gratitude, i,e the gratitude people belonging to a group feel toward members of an outgroup, should enhance positive intergroup attitudes and the behaviors. In detail, it has been tested a model where intergroup gratitude has been posited as a mediator between the quantity and quality of contact with a target outgroup and positive attitudes and helping intentions toward members of the outgroup. Participants were 427 adolescents attending a high school in middle sized city of North Italy (Mean age= 14.4). The sample comprised adolescents from Italian (N=329) and migrant (N=108) families. All participants completed a questionnaire measuring the variables of interest. The model, analyzed via structural equation modelling, provided a very good fit to the data both for Italian and Immigrant adolescents, showing that the quality and not the quantity of contact affected attitudes and helping behavior towards members of outgroup both directly, and through the influence of intergroup gratitude. The more adolescents experience positive experience of contact with outgroup members, the more they are likely to feel gratitude towards the outgroup and this, in turn, is likely to affect prosocial attitudes and behavior intentions towards the outgroup. Implications and future research perspectives will be discussed.