Gratitude in collectivist and individualist cultures

Although research suggests that Eastern, collectivist cultures do not benefit as much from practicing gratitude compared to Western, individualist cultures, the reasons for these differences remain unclear. In a single time-point randomized controlled intervention, participants in India (N = 431), Taiwan (N = 112), and the U.S. (N = 307) were randomly assigned either to write a gratitude letter to someone who had done a kind act for them, to write a gratitude letter to themselves for a kind act they had done for another person, or to complete a neutral control writing activity. Immediately after completing their assigned writing activity, participants completed measures of state gratitude, elevation, and emotions (guilt, indebtedness, embarrassment, positive affect, and negative affect). U.S. (but not Indian and Taiwanese) participants who expressed gratitude reported greater state gratitude relative to controls. Although not explicitly grateful, however, Indian and Taiwanese participants who wrote gratitude letters reported higher elevation (and Indian participants, reduced negative affect) compared to control participants. Finally, compared to control participants, Taiwanese (but not U.S.) participants felt less guilty when writing a gratitude letter to themselves. The results provide new insights for why expressing gratitude may be a less effective happiness-promoting activity in collectivist cultures.