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<p>Gratitude serves as positive feedback for givers of kind acts, reinforcing their motivation for further such acts. However, this gratitude-kindness cycle depends on givers’ perception of recipients’ gratitude—a stage that has received little empirical attention. The present research examined whether givers of small acts of kindness to strangers underestimate recipients’ gratitude. Across three scenario-based studies, I found consistent evidence of gratitude underestimation. Study 1 revealed that givers predicted lower gratitude than recipients actually experienced, regardless of the type of kindness. Study 2 suggested that this underestimation was attributable to givers’ pessimistic inference rather than recipients’ overreporting. Study 3 further showed that this tendency disappeared when recipients verbally expressed their gratitude. These findings suggest that givers’ perception of recipients’ gratitude constitutes a bottleneck in the prosocial cycle, potentially undermining their prosocial motivation. Importantly, this bottleneck can be resolved through simple verbal acknowledgment. Exploratory mediation analyses did not yield consistent effects, suggesting that the mechanism underlying underestimation warrants further investigation.</p>

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Underestimating the gratitude of strangers: how givers pessimistically predict recipients’ gratitude for small acts of kindness

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月1日

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  • Yuma Shiraki

摘要

Gratitude serves as positive feedback for givers of kind acts, reinforcing their motivation for further such acts. However, this gratitude-kindness cycle depends on givers’ perception of recipients’ gratitude—a stage that has received little empirical attention. The present research examined whether givers of small acts of kindness to strangers underestimate recipients’ gratitude. Across three scenario-based studies, I found consistent evidence of gratitude underestimation. Study 1 revealed that givers predicted lower gratitude than recipients actually experienced, regardless of the type of kindness. Study 2 suggested that this underestimation was attributable to givers’ pessimistic inference rather than recipients’ overreporting. Study 3 further showed that this tendency disappeared when recipients verbally expressed their gratitude. These findings suggest that givers’ perception of recipients’ gratitude constitutes a bottleneck in the prosocial cycle, potentially undermining their prosocial motivation. Importantly, this bottleneck can be resolved through simple verbal acknowledgment. Exploratory mediation analyses did not yield consistent effects, suggesting that the mechanism underlying underestimation warrants further investigation.