A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way: Explaining Why Gratitude Expressions Motivate Prosocial Behavior
Grant & Gino (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(6)
Relied on in 2 places across the academy · 2 stated limits
What it found
When a director thanked university fundraisers for their work, the number of calls they made the following week rose by roughly 50%, an effect carried by feeling socially valued rather than by feeling more capable.
What it does not show
A workplace motivation study, not a study of charm. The mechanism — feeling valued — is what we are borrowing.
A workplace motivation study, not a study of charm. The mechanism — feeling valued — is what is being borrowed.
Where we rely on it
2 places in the academy. If this paper turned out to be wrong, this is the list that would have to change.
In the curriculum · 1
In the films · 1
Cited alongside it
Papers that sit under the same topics and films. Not a claim that they agree with each other — only that the same exercises lean on both.
It Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Question-Asking Increases Liking
Huang, Yeomans, Brooks, Minson & Gino (2017)Disclosing Information About the Self Is Intrinsically Rewarding
Tamir & Mitchell (2012)A Multi-Lab Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis; Registered Replication Report: Strack, Martin & Stepper (1988)
Coles et al., Many Smiles Collaboration (2022); Wagenmakers et al. (2016)Overly Shallow?: Miscalibrated Expectations Create a Barrier to Deeper Conversation
Kardas, Kumar & Epley (2022)Perceived Partner Responsiveness as an Organizing Construct in the Study of Intimacy and Closeness
Reis, Clark & Holmes (2004)Research
A real study. We tell you what it found, how many people were in it, and what it can't prove.
Free to read, link to and quote. If we have carried this paper further than it goes, say so at contact@suaviq.com — corrections to this registry are the most useful mail we get.