arbiter
JournalsAccount

Grateful Hearts, Lighter Wallets: Gratitude Diminishes the Desire for Money Through Social Connectedness and Self‐Transcendence

Agata Gąsiorowska et al.

European Journal of Social Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70054article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Building on theories that position gratitude as a social and self‐transcendent emotion, this research examined whether gratitude reduces people's desire for money across four preregistered studies ( N = 3,125). Study 1 provided evidence that gratitude was negatively associated with money desire across three countries (the United Kingdom, Mexico and South Africa). Studies 2–4 provided experimental evidence that various gratitude manipulations consistently reduced money desire. Study 3 revealed two key psychological mechanisms: enhanced social connectedness and increased self‐transcendence. Study 4 examined boundary conditions, finding that gratitude's effect on money desire was strongest among individuals with high levels of beliefs in money's symbolic meaning. These findings suggest that gratitude interventions may help reduce materialistic attitudes by addressing the fundamental psychological desire for money itself, operating through specific mechanisms that foster connection to others and transcendence of narrow self‐interest.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70054

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{agata2026,
  title        = {{Grateful Hearts, Lighter Wallets: Gratitude Diminishes the Desire for Money Through Social Connectedness and Self‐Transcendence}},
  author       = {Agata Gąsiorowska et al.},
  journal      = {European Journal of Social Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70054},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Grateful Hearts, Lighter Wallets: Gratitude Diminishes the Desire for Money Through Social Connectedness and Self‐Transcendence

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.