Martin Seligman is one of the principal exponents of contemporary positive psychology. He is director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he is also a professor of psychology. He is familiar with psychological research on positive traits and virtues and can speak about gratitude research.

Todd Kashdan is a professor of clinical psychology at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where he directs the Laboratory for the Study of Social Anxiety, Character Strengths and Related Phenomena. He has researched the relationship between gratitude and well-being among Vietnam War veterans.

Jeffrey Froh is an associate professor of psychology and a school psychologist at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. He researches gratitude in young people and is a co-author of Making Grateful Kids: A Scientific Approach for Helping Youth Thrive.

Barbara L. Fredrickson is a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she is director of the PEP (Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology) Lab. A specialist in positive emotions, she won the first John Marks Templeton Positive Psychology Prize for original research. She contributed a chapter on how gratitude benefits human development to The […]

Robert Emmons is a psychology professor at the University of California-Davis and director of the Emmons Lab. One of his primary interests is the psychology of gratitude and how gratitude relates to human flourishing. His books include Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity.

David DeSteno, a psychology professor at Northeastern University in Boston, specializes in the study of human emotions. He is working on a National Science Foundation-funded study of gratitude, trust and risk.

Read a Nov. 8, 2004, MedicineNet.com story about the health benefits of gratitude.

Read a Beliefnet column that describes Christian, Jewish and Muslim perspectives on gratitude and links to Buddhist and Hindu views.