Gratitude can increase joy, even if it feels a little cringe
Gratitude can increase joy, even if it feels a little cringe
- November 26, 2025
- Nadia Chernyak, cognitive sciences, Science News, Nov. 26, 2025
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It’s worth remembering that, absent attention to gratitude, negative emotions can easily take over. Kids are better at punishing those they think wronged them than thanking those who helped them, researchers reported in 2019 in Psychological Science. “Gratitude has to be taught. It’s not something that’s natural,” says Nadia Chernyak, a cognitive developmental psychologist at the University of California, Irvine. “Yet grudges are really natural.”
For the full story, please visit https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gratitude-increases-joy-habits-thankful.
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