Gratitude · thank-you text · five-item list
A thank-you text beat a five-item gratitude list.
You wanted the thank-you text to move the score after a five-item list already sat in the notebook.
A thank-you text, also called a gratitude text, is when you send one thank-you line to a real person who already gave something, and a five-item list, also called listing gratitudes, is when you write gifts in a notebook and keep them private. Subjective well-being is how good life feels on a sheet. The score is that sheet. Lifted means people marked a higher number on that sheet after they wrote or sent. A megastudy is one big test across many countries, and a 95% CI is the range they printed for the lift. Immediate scores means they scored before the hour was gone. A control is a group that did not do a gratitude practice, and an arm is one group in the test. PNAS is the journal. Keep the thank-you text name.
What is a thank-you text?
A thank-you text is when you send one thank-you line to a real person who already gave something. You think of a person who already gave you something, then you send that person one line that thanks them for that gift.
You wanted that text to move the score after a five-item list already sat in the notebook, so keep the thank-you text name.
What is a five-item gratitude list?
A five-item gratitude list is when you write gifts in a notebook and keep them private. You write things you are thankful for, and you can keep the list with you.
People who write those lists still lifted, and the 95% CI they printed for that lift was [0.09, 0.22]. Keep wanting the thank-you text to move the score.
What is subjective well-being?
Subjective well-being is how good life feels on a sheet. After people write or send, they mark that sheet, and those marks become the score you came here to move.
Keep the thank-you text for that change.
Did a thank-you text beat a five-item gratitude list?
Coles, with Dang, Oishi, and McCullough, published this paper in 2026 in PNAS. PNAS is the journal. You can read the paper at doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2537789123.
The title of the paper is “A multinational megastudy of the effects of gratitude practices on subjective well-being.” It also carries DOI 10.1073/pnas.2537789123. You can open the files at osf.io/ae385. OSF is the open file page for the study.
After they recruited 15,499 people, and after cuts they kept 10,696 records from 34 countries, they tested six gratitude arms against three control groups that did not do a gratitude practice. A megastudy is one big test across many countries. After cuts is how they got from 15,499 people down to 10,696 records. An arm is one group in the test. A control is a group that did not do a gratitude practice.
Some people sent one thank-you line to a real person who already gave something, and other people wrote gifts in a notebook and kept them private. Then both groups marked how good life felt on a sheet before the hour was gone. Immediate scores means they scored before the hour was gone.
People who sent the thank-you line lifted more, and the 95% CI they printed for that lift was [0.21, 0.34]. People who listed gifts and kept them private still lifted, and the range they printed for those people was [0.09, 0.22].
Keep wanting the thank-you text to move the score.
How long did the thank-you text lift last?
They scored before the hour was gone. Duration past the hour is unknown, which means they did not print how the score looked the next day or the next week.
You can still want the text to move the score. They did not print the later hours.
Can you still write a five-item gratitude list?
People who listed gifts and kept them private still lifted in the range [0.09, 0.22]. A five-item list still has a place if you want one.
Emmons, in 2003 in JPSP, printed a weekly five-line list. JPSP is a journal. That weekly list is a neighbor on this page, so keep your list if you already like writing one.
Keep the list if you want it. You can still want the thank-you text to move the score after the list already sat in the notebook.
If you feel unusual distress or you need care, talk to a clinician, because this page is educational and not a diagnosis.
If you want a page about naming a feeling word that quieted the alarm, open the affect label page.
Can you still want the thank-you text to move the score?
You wanted the thank-you text to move the score after a five-item list already sat in the notebook. Keep the thank-you text name.
People who sent one thank-you line lifted more than people who listed gifts and kept them private. People who listed gifts still lifted, 95% CI [0.09, 0.22]. Duration past the hour is unknown. You can still want the text to move the score.
Sources
Coles N.A., Dang A.V., Oishi S., McCullough M.E., et al. “A multinational megastudy of the effects of gratitude practices on subjective well-being.” PNAS 2026;123(20):e2537789123. DOI 10.1073/pnas.2537789123. Recruited 15,499, after cuts N=10,696, 34 countries. Six gratitude arms vs three controls. Writing a gratitude text 95% CI [0.21, 0.34]. Merely listing gratitudes 95% CI [0.09, 0.22]. Immediate scores. Duration past the hour unknown. Emmons 2003 JPSP weekly five-line list, neighbor. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2537789123 · osf.io/ae385