People who score higher on measures of autonomy experience less overall gratitude and value it less, according to experiments conducted by Anthony Ahrens, an associate professor of psychology at American University, and his colleagues.
Autonomous folks who really value independence might feel that gratitude undermines that independence, says Ahrens. And authors of a 2015 meta-analysis wonder if people who tend to be perfectionists may also have neutral or negative reactions if they reflect on benefits they’ve received from others.
Does that mean that people who experience gratitude as negative should push through it anyway in pursuit of some benefit? “That’s a big ‘I don’t know,’ ” says Ahrens. “We will need data to answer that.” He does, however, worry that people who are uncomfortable with gratitude and with receiving gifts may be undermining their interpersonal relationships.
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