McCullough, M. E., Kimeldorf, M. B., & Cohen, A. D. (2008). An adaptation for altruism? The social causes, social effects, and social evolution of gratitude. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 281-284.

ABSTRACT—People feel grateful when they have benefited from someone’s costly, intentional, voluntary effort on
their behalf. Experiencing gratitude motivates beneficiaries to repay their benefactors and to extend generosity
to third parties. Expressions of gratitude also reinforce benefactors for their generosity. These social features
distinguish gratitude from related emotions such as happiness and feelings of indebtedness. Evolutionary theories
propose that gratitude is an adaptation for reciprocal altruism (the sequential exchange of costly benefits between
nonrelatives) and, perhaps, upstream reciprocity (a pay-it-forward style distribution of an unearned benefit to a
third party after one has received a benefit from another benefactor). Gratitude therefore may have played a
unique role in human social evolution. Robert Trivers, have apprehended the importance of gratitude
for creating and sustaining positive social relations (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006; Harpham, 2004; McCullough, Kilpatrick, Emmons, & Larson, 2001). Oddly, though, psychological science largely neglected gratitude until the 21st century. Fortunately, recent research has explored gratitude’s distinct social causes and effects. These studies may help to shed light on gratitude’s evolutionary history.

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This entry is listed under Altruism, Evolutionary Psychology, Gratitude.