Office Hours with Arthur Brooks

5 Steps Toward a More Grateful Life

49 snips
Nov 24, 2025
Discover how gratitude can be trained like a skill rather than being a fixed trait. Learn about the science behind why we often focus on negativity and how gratitude can shift our mindset from scarcity to abundance. Hear about its positive impacts on relationships and workplace happiness. Arthur shares a practical five-step gratitude protocol that incorporates daily practices and public acknowledgment. He also explores the potential dark side of forced gratitude, encouraging authenticity in your expressions of thankfulness.
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INSIGHT

Negativity Bias Explains Ungratefulness

  • Negativity bias is an evolved tendency to focus on threats and losses rather than positives.
  • Gratitude functions as a conscious manual override to shift from animal instincts to moral aspirations.
INSIGHT

Prefrontal Control Enables Gratitude

  • The prefrontal cortex gives humans agency to choose moral aspirations over animal tendencies.
  • Gratitude is a deliberate prefrontal override that helps you be the person you aspire to be.
INSIGHT

Gratitude Interrupts Rumination

  • Gratitude interrupts negative rumination by shifting attention away from recursive negative emotions.
  • This attention shift reduces depressive symptoms, stress, and anxiety according to the research Brooks cites.
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