This Could Boost Those Good Feelings That Come With Giving

Giving makes us feel happy, and giving to someone we actually know makes us even happier, a new study suggests.

New research published in the Journal of Happiness and Development ^[1] shows that social giving -- where you're giving to a person who you know, or your giving leads to a social connection -- seems to foster more emotional benefits than giving without the social aspect.

"While additional factors other than social connection likely influence the happiness ^[2] gained from pro-social spending, our findings suggest that putting the social in pro-social is one way to transform good deeds into good feelings," the team concludes.

The study included three different experiments. For one of them, 68 young men and women were surveyed on their general levels of happiness. Then, they were shown an ad for a real charity called ACTS, which helps bring fresh water to African communities; they were told that other people in the past who were participating in the study had donated to ACTS after seeing the ad. Then, the participants were asked if they wanted to donate also.

However, some of the participants were randomly assigned to the "high-social connection" condition, where the research assistant conducting the study told them that they had a friend who was part of ACTS who had just gotten back from Africa, and that the money was being raised on the friend's behalf. The other participants, however, were not informed of this personal connection, and were simply asked if they wanted to donate.

Then, the researchers had all the study participants report their life satisfaction, happiness and positive and negative affect using different scales.

They found that even though the amount of money donated didn't really differ between the two groups (participants in groups gave about $5), the participants who were told of the research assistant's personal connection ACTS experienced greater happiness in association with giving.

"We found that larger donations were associated with higher well-being ratings in the high social connection condition, but not in the low social connection condition," the researchers wrote in the study. "As predicted, the link between giving and subsequent happiness was strongest when participants gave the donation directly to someone who was personally connected to the charity."

For some health benefits of gratitude, click through the slideshow below.

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Good For Teens' Mental Health

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/11/gratitude-teens-happier_n_1749118.html">Grateful teens are happier</a>, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association this year. Researchers also found that teens who are grateful -- in the study, defined as having a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/11/gratitude-teens-happier_n_1749118.html">positive outlook on life</a> -- are more well-behaved at school and more hopeful than their less-grateful peers. "More gratitude may be precisely what our society needs to raise a generation that is ready to make a difference in the world," study researcher Giacomo Bono, Ph.D., a psychology professor at California State University, said in a statement.

Boosts Well-Being

Being constantly mindful of all the things you have to be thankful for can boost your well-being, research suggests. In a series of experiments detailed in a 2003 study in <a href="http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/pdfs/GratitudePDFs/6Emmons-BlessingsBurdens.pdf">the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology</a>, daily exercise practices and listing off all the things you are thankful for are linked with a brighter outlook on life and a greater sense of positivity. "There do appear to exist benefits to regularly <a href="http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/pdfs/GratitudePDFs/6Emmons-BlessingsBurdens.pdf">focusing on one's blessings</a>," the researchers wrote in the study. "The advantages are most pronounced when compared with a focus on hassles or complaints, yet are still apparent in comparison with simply reflecting the major events in one’s life, on ways in which one believes one is better off than comparison with others, or with a control group."

Linked With Better Grades

Grateful high-schoolers have <a href="http://people.hofstra.edu/jeffrey_j_froh/spring%202010%20web/10.1007_s10902-010-9195-9[1].pdf">higher GPAs</a> -- as well as better social integration and satisfaction with life -- than their not-grateful counterparts, according to a 2010 study in the Journal of Happiness Studies. Researchers also found that grateful teens were less depressed or envious. "When combined with previous research, a clearer picture is beginning to emerge about the <a href="http://people.hofstra.edu/jeffrey_j_froh/spring%202010%20web/10.1007_s10902-010-9195-9[1].pdf">benefits of gratitude</a> in adolescents, and thus an important gap in the literature on gratitude and well-being is beginning to be filled," researchers wrote.

Makes You A Better Friend To Others

According to a 2003 study in the <a href="http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/pdfs/GratitudePDFs/6Emmons-BlessingsBurdens.pdf">the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology</a>, gratitude could also boost pro-social behaviors, such as helping other people who have problems or lending emotional support to another person.

Helps You Sleep Better

Writing down what you're thankful for as you drift off to sleep can help you get better ZZs, according to a study in the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2011.01049.x/abstract">journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being</a>. Specifically, researchers found that when people spent 15 minutes jotting down what they're grateful for in a journal before bedtime, they <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/minding-the-body/201111/how-gratitude-helps-you-sleep-night">fell asleep faster</a> and stayed asleep longer, Psychology Today reported.

Strengthens Your Relationship

Being thankful for the little things your partner does could make your relationship stronger, according to a study in the journal Personal Relationships. The Telegraph reported on the study, which showed that journaling about the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/7756775/Gratitude-for-little-things-is-key-to-relationships.html">thoughtful things your partner did</a> was linked with a beneficial outcome on the relationship.

Benefits The Heart

A 1995 study in the American Journal of Cardiology showed that <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7484873">appreciation and positive emotions</a> are linked with changes in heart rate variability. <blockquote>[This] may be beneficial in the treatment of hypertension and in reducing the likelihood of sudden death in patients with congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease.</blockquote>

Is Good For Team Morale

Athletes are <a href="http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ811262&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ811262">less likely to burn out</a> and more likely to experience high life satisfaction and team satisfaction when they are grateful, according to a 2008 study in the journal Social Indicators Research of high-schoolers.

Linked WIth Better Immune Health

Gratefulness is linked with optimism, which in turn is linked with <a href="http://women.webmd.com/features/gratitute-health-boost">better immune health</a>, WebMD reported. For example, a University of Utah study showed that stressed-out law students who were optimistic had more immune-boosting blood cells than people who were pessimistic, according to WebMD.

Protects You From Negative Emotions That Come With Extreme Loss

WebMD reported that negative events can boost gratitude, and that gratitude can help to <a href="http://women.webmd.com/features/gratitute-health-boost">boost feelings of belonging</a> and decrease feelings of stress. For example, a survey showed that feelings of gratitude were at high levels after 9/11, according to WebMD.