AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -In positive psychology, gratitude is the human way of acknowledging the good things of life. Psychologists have defined gratitude as a positive emotional response that we perceive on giving or receiving a benefit from someone (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).

Detailed explanation-2: -Accordingly, gratitude as a positive emotion and a general life orientation, was found to contribute to the psychological needs satisfaction through the perceived social support and self esteem and need satisfaction enhances the individual’s well-being and resilience levels.

Detailed explanation-3: -A recent study found that practicing gratitude activates a part of the human brain-the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC)-associated with what the researchers describe as neural pure altruism, which basically means that your brain craves the experience of giving.

Detailed explanation-4: -In short, gratitude can boost neurotransmitter serotonin and activate the brain stem to produce dopamine.” Dopamine is our brain’s pleasure chemical. The more we think positive, grateful thoughts, the healthier and happier we feel.