Thanksgiving and Joy to the World

A Circle of Well-Being

Gratitude and Joy

One of the beautiful holiday connections in the United States is the Thanksgiving to Christmas festivities. Just after Thanksgiving, I noticed that a former student posted a photo of an ultrasound. She and her husband had smiles as they hugged. She posted her Spring due date. Great Expectations!

We know a lot about gratitude. Saying thanks, writing gratitude letters, and keeping a gratitude journal are annual reminders of things we can do to promote our wellbeing and make the world a nicer place. That’s Thanksgiving.

But psychologists have also begun the study of joy, which until recently has been hidden amongst a sea of happiness research. Enter Philip Watkins and his colleagues who find evidence that sets joy apart from other good feelings.

Psychologists link the emotion of joy to good news. It’s not just any good news but something we long for—something we look forward to, hope for, and expect. Moreover, joy is not like getting a present in an exchange but being blessed beyond our expectation. Perhaps our blessing is a life-changing event and a sign that our future is somehow going to be brighter.

So, the theoretical link emerges. Grateful people appear poised to experience joy. Christmas is around the corner. Expectations are high. And Joy to the World is pregnant with meaning. Perhaps it’s no accident that many holidays fill the weeks of December.

One more thing before looking at a study. Watkins and his team observed that joy is somehow associated with spirituality in the sense that people are looking beyond themselves as if they wished to transcend the moment.

Joy and Gratitude

In a study by Watkins and his colleagues, volunteers were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Two groups focused on increasing either gratitude or pride and a third group was a neutral condition. As the researchers predicted, only those in the positive mood groups reported high levels of joy.

In a follow-up study, the researchers looked at the relationship between joy and other measures. Perhaps not surprisingly, high levels of joy were strongly linked to high levels of gratitude and overall, subjective appraisals of wellbeing.

Possibilities

Joy and gratitude are linked not just as mood states but as characteristics of personality. People who routinely express gratitude are ready to experience a joy in a deep and meaningful—perhaps even a life changing way. There are no guarantees of course. But there is a link here suggesting what psychologists call a positive cycle of virtues. Gratitude links to joyfulness and great joy links to gratitude.

And people of faith may connect with their forbears who expressed their thanksgiving with a hearty “Joy to the World.”

Reference

Watkins, P.C., Emmons, R. A., Greaves, M. R. & Bell, J. (2018) Joy is a distinct positive emotion: Assessment of joy and relationship to gratitude and well-being, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13:5, 522-539, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2017.1414298

Read more about gratitude (chapter 4) and joy (chapter 9) in Living Well.

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Author

I am a psychologist who has focused on positive psychology and the psychology of religion in recent decades.

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