Gratitude expressions between co-workers improve cardiovascular responses to stress
A study from the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management finds teammates who thanked each other before performing a high-stress task had a better cardiovascular response compared to teams who did not express gratitude. The enhanced cardiovascular response leads to increased concentration, more confidence, allowing individuals to give their peak performance.
Expressions of gratitude are known to enhance marriages and other intimate relationships; however the study is to first to show they also benefit people in loose tie relationships, such as co-workers. It is also the first to reveal that gratitude builds biological resources, promoting better stress responses, which in addition to fueling performance on high pressure tasks, can have long-term health impacts. Repeated exposure to stress is linked to cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment and weakened immunity.
“Our results have meaningful implications for organizations and particularly for employees who work together under acutely stressful conditions to accomplish joint goals,” said Christopher Oveis, senior author of the forthcoming study to be published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General and associate professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management.
Results from the study were derived from an experiment with 200 participants who had to compete in a contest inspired by the TV show “Shark Tank.” The participants were UC San Diego students who were paired in teams with their suitemates to replicate relationships between workplace colleagues — individuals who are not close personally, but who spend a lot of time together. The teams were given six minutes together to come up with a pitch for creating and marketing a bicycle for students to ride on campus and they were given six minutes to pitch their product and its marketing plan before a panel of judges. The winning team was awarded $200.
“It’s essentially an impossible task,” said Oveis. “The experiment is designed to create a maximally stressful environment so we can gauge how gratitude shapes stress response during teamwork because most people spend a third or more of their daily lives at work.”
To measure physiological responses, participants wore electrodes on their neck and torso which collected electrocardiography (ECG) and impedance cardiography (ICG) signals. In addition, blood pressure was monitored through a blood pressure cuff worn on subjects’ arms.
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