Gratitude Heals: State Gratitude Weakens the Objectification-Social Pain Link

TL;DR

This paper shows that feeling grateful can reduce the pain caused by being treated as an object, based on three studies involving 927 participants.

Contribution

The study introduces gratitude as a novel psychological buffer against the negative effects of objectification.

Findings

Objectification experiences are linked to increased social pain.

Gratitude reduces the pain associated with objectification.

Chronic objectification is positively related to psychological pain.

Abstract

From the targets’ perspective, objectification is the process of being perceived and treated as mere instruments without human qualities. We argue that objectified people would experience more social pain and that the state of gratitude could weaken the link between objectification and painful feelings. Three studies (N = 927) confirmed our hypotheses. Study 1 found that people experienced more social pain after recalling the objectification experience. In Study 2, the participants’ chronic objectification was positively linked to psychological pain. More importantly, participants with higher feelings of objectification reported lower pain in the gratitude condition than those in the non-gratitude condition. In Study 3, objectified people reported less social pain in the gratitude condition than in the non-gratitude condition. In sum, our research highlights the negative impacts of objectification and the power of gratitude as a valuable tool in buffering the adverse effects of objectification.

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