Looking at me, appreciating you: Self-focused attention distinguishes between gratitude and indebtedness

Abstract

We provide evidence that self-focused attention (both dispositional and situationally induced) affects the evaluation of a benefactor. Specifically, self-focused attention distinguishes between gratitude and indebtedness. In Study 1, gratitude correlated negatively with dispositional public self-focused attention and social anxiety, whereas indebtedness correlated positively with public self-focused attention and social anxiety. In Study 2, participants recalled a recent benefit under either high self-focused attention, induced via a mirror, or low self-focused attention. Highly self-focused individuals recalled increased indebtedness, but not gratitude, toward a benefactor, relative to those in the control condition. Self-focused individuals also felt less commitment and closeness to the benefactor. The implications for the link between self-focus and social emotions (and thus social life) are discussed.

Keywords:

• Self-focus
• Self-awareness
• Gratitude
• Indebtedness
• Social exchange

Acknowledgements

Study 1 was part of Maureen A. Mathews' master's thesis.

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on this manuscript, and Karen Chervenak, Nadia Eran, and Ryan Odell for their assistance with data collection.