Gratitude study uses Holocaust memories
Tales of people offering help prove relationship between thankfulness, other emotions
To understand how we process gratitude, researchers tapped into the memories of Holocaust survivors.
Nearly two dozen millennials with no connection to the Holocaust were first immersed in the genocide’s history. Then the study participants heard stories taken directly from survivors’ accounts of when, in the midst of such abject horror, people came to their aid.
Neuroscientists at the University of Southern California were able to map the mostly 20-somethings’ feelings of gratitude in the brain as they listened to the stories.
Using Holocaust survivor testimonies archived at the USC Shoah Foundation, the young study subjects heard vignettes of “a stranger offering a bit of food or a neighbour providing a place to hide,” said USC Shoah Foundation executive director Stephen Smith.
“These small acts of generosity helped them hold on to their humanity,” Smith said in a press release.
Glenn Fox, the lead researcher on the study, showed the participants documentaries about the rise of Nazism, the concentration camps and the liberation in 1945 while they lay inside an MRI scanner tube. This was intended to mirror the immersive experience of visiting the Holocaust museum.
Then the individuals were given various scenarios taken from survivor testimony and asked to imagine how they’d feel. You’re on the run from the Nazis, they were told, and a family takes you in at their own risk. In another example, you’re already in a camp and very ill when a fellow prisoner who is a doctor helps nurse you back to health.
They were told to rate the depth of the gratitude they felt, while the MRI tracked the gratitude’s circuitry in the brain, according to a USC press release. Fox explained in the release that the study determined that feelings of gratitude activates a part of the brain that triggers other positive feelings such as reward, fairness and self-awareness. In an interview, Fox said the finding helps confirm the relationship between thankfulness and other positive emotions.
“It gives us something real to hang our hats on for chasing this important emotion of gratitude. That will really help us home in on the best interventions. What is the best way to feel grateful when you’re having a tough time . . . this study is a nice foundation for that type of research.”