Developing Gratitude in Children and Adolescents

In popular opinion, gratitude means saying 'thank you'. While politeness and appreciation are certainly important, gratitude is a larger issue. Appropriately defined, it encompasses the strengthening of human relationships and qualifies as a moral virtue. This important and timely volume provides the conceptual framework for studying the development of gratitude, with a comprehensive and international set of authors approaching the topic from philosophical, psychological, and educational perspectives. The first section provides the theoretical underpinnings for the study of gratitude as a virtue. In the next section, the authors examine the ways in which gratitude develops, including key cross-cultural variations and some possible effects of its development. The final section then considers the links between parent and child gratitude, and the ways in which parents and teachers can help to encourage gratitude, both in their everyday practices and by using literary texts.

Focuses on how gratitude develops, and what parents and teachers can do to encourage its development
Explores the importance of considering gratitude as a virtue, rather than simply as a positive emotion
Covers a variety of international perspectives on gratitude to highlight the cultural variability associated with its development

Reviews & endorsements

‘This is a well-conceived and timely book that offers conceptual clarity to an area of research that is badly in need of coherence.' Larry Nucci, University of California, Berkeley

'Tudge and Freitas deliver on a state-of-the-art compendium of our understanding of gratitude amidst all of its complexities. Each chapter systematically focuses on this topic across a wide range of theoretical frameworks, cultural and philosophical perspectives, and methodological approaches. The volume is certain to be an exemplary resource for scholars, practitioners, and curious readers alike.' Gustavo Carlo, University of Missouri

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Product details

Published: October 2017
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781107182721
Length: 304 pages
Dimensions: 235 × 157 × 20 mm
Weight: 0.57kg
Contains: 16 b/w illus. 9 tables
Availability: Available

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Contents

1. Developing gratitude: an introduction Jonathan R. H. Tudge and Lia B. L. Freitas
2. Towards a psychological study of the virtues Yves de La Taille
3. Gratitude in special relationships Terrance McConnell
4. Assessing influences on gratitude experience: age-related differences in how gratitude is understood and experienced Blaire Morgan and Liz Gulliford
5. Gratitude and moral obligation Sara E. Mendonça and Fernanda Palhares
6. Cross-cultural variations in the development of gratitude Ayse Payir, Sara E. Mendonça, Yue Liang, Irina L. Mokrova, Fernanda Palhares and Selin Zeytinoglu
7. Gratitude in adolescence Samantha Bausert and Jeffrey J. Froh
8. The development of gratitude and its relation to spending preferences and materialism Lisa Kiang, Elisa A. Merçon-Vargas, Sara E. Mendonça, Ayse Payir and Lia O'Brien
9. Relations between parents' and children's gratitude Lia O'Brien, Yue Liang, Elisa A. Merçon-Vargas, Uzama S. Price and Ebony D. Leon
10. Parent socialization of children's gratitude Andrea M. Hussong, Hillary A. Langley, Jennifer L. Coffman, Amy G. Halberstadt and Philip R. Costanzo
11. Children's and parents' understanding of gratitude Meagan A. Ramsey, Amy L. Gentzler and Boglarka Vizy
12. Developing gratitude as a practice for teachers Kerry Howells
13. Teaching gratitude through literature David Carr and Tom Harrison.

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Contributors

Jonathan R. H. Tudge, Lia B. L. Freitas, Yves de La Taille, Terrance McConnell, Blaire Morgan, Liz Gulliford, Sara E. Mendonça, Fernanda Palhares, Ayse Payir, Yue Liang, Irina L. Mokrova, Fernanda Palhares, Selin Zeytinoglu, Samantha Bausert, Jeffrey J. Froh, Lisa Kiang, Elisa A. Merçon-Vargas, Lia O'Brien, Uzama S. Price, Ebony D. Leon; Andrea M. Hussong, Hillary A. Langley, Jennifer L. Coffman, Amy G. Halberstadt, Philip R. Costanzo, Meagan A. Ramsey, Amy L. Gentzler, Boglarka Vizy, Kerry Howells, David Carr, Tom Harrison

Editors

Jonathan R. H. Tudge , University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Jonathan R. H. Tudge is a Professor in the Department of Human Development of Family Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He has long been interested in the relations among culture, everyday activities and interactions, and development. His books include The Everyday Lives of Young Children: Culture, Class, and Child Rearing in Diverse Countries (Cambridge, 2008), and he has co-edited two other books related to culture and youth development. With Lia Beatriz de Lucca Freitas, he has been studying the development of gratitude in children and adolescents for the past decade, with the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation.
Lia Beatriz de Lucca Freitas , Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Lia Beatriz de Lucca Freitas is a Professor of Psychology at the Institute of Psychology at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She gained her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of São Paulo. Her main interests are in moral development, specifically moral virtues and the construction of values. She has authored The Theory of Morality in Jean Piaget's Work: An Unfinished Project (2003) and co-edited Reflections on Moral Education (2017), both published in Portuguese. She is a Co-Principle Investigator on a multi-year cross-cultural project on the development of gratitude in children and adolescents, funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

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