The most popular gratitude habit in the world – jotting down a list of things you’re thankful for – came in dead last. In a megastudy of 10,696 people across 34 countries, the practice that moved people’s mood the most was far simpler: sending a quick thank-you message to someone.
The study, published in PNAS on May 11, 2026, and making the rounds in university news releases this fall, is the biggest head-to-head test yet of which gratitude practice actually works. The headline: every practice helped a little, some helped more, and where you live mattered even more than what you did. Here’s what the researchers found, what the numbers really mean, and how to try the winning practice this week.
Inside the 34-Country Gratitude Practice Megastudy
The project, called the Global Gratitude Collaboration, was led by Nicholas Coles of the University of Florida and Michael McCullough of UC San Diego, with 36 researchers listed as authors in total. Countries were deliberately picked to span a huge range of cultures, from Canada and the US to Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Japan and Norway.
Each participant did a short browser-based experiment – about 20 minutes, offered in up to 15 languages. They were randomly assigned to one of six gratitude exercises or one of three neutral control tasks, like writing about recent events. Right afterward, they rated how they felt.
The six practices tested were:
- Gratitude text: write and actually send a thank-you message to someone.
- Gratitude letter: write a letter to someone you’re grateful to (not sent).
- Naikan reflection: a Japanese-rooted exercise reflecting on what you received from others, what you gave, and how you could help more.
- Divine gratitude: write a thank-you letter to God, a higher power or a spiritual figure.
- Mental subtraction: write about how your life would be different without something you’re grateful for.
- Gratitude list: the classic “count your blessings” list.
The researchers measured six outcomes: positive feelings, negative feelings, optimism, life satisfaction, envy and a sense of indebtedness (feeling you owe someone in return).
Which Gratitude Practice Worked Best?
Across all countries, writing and sending a gratitude text produced the biggest overall change. Simply listing things you’re grateful for produced the smallest, according to the PNAS paper.
Per the study’s ranking, the order from most to least effective was roughly:
- Gratitude text
- Gratitude letter
- Naikan reflection
- Divine gratitude
- Mental subtraction
- Gratitude list
The common thread? Connection. “The greatest effect occurred when social connection explicitly came into play,” said Paulo Sérgio Boggio, a psychologist at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Brazil and a co-author, in a release from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).
Boggio added that all six gratitude exercises beat the control tasks. “For an intervention to be more effective – to have a greater impact – it must be more than just thinking about something good,” he said.
That’s a twist for anyone who owns a gratitude journal. Per the paper, about half of all past gratitude tests have involved people counting their blessings – and that’s the version that did the least here. It still helped. It just wasn’t the star.
Why a thank-you text beats a private list
Researchers think it comes down to what gratitude is for. It’s a social emotion – it evolved to help people bond and return favors. A list stays in your head. A text lands in someone else’s day.
“Gratitude functions as a reminder that we’re intrinsically socially connected with other people with this kind of overlapping reciprocity,” said Hongbo Yu, a UC Santa Barbara social psychologist and co-author, in a UCSB news release. “So that helps us strengthen our social connections.”
Boggio described a ripple effect: feeling grateful makes you more likely to help others – not necessarily the person who helped you. He called it “a spiral of helping among people.”
How Big Were the Effects? (Spoiler: Small but Real)
This is where it’s easy to overhype. The effects were real, but they were small, and they were measured right after one short session.
Compared with the control tasks, the gratitude practices produced:
| Outcome | Effect size (Cohen’s d) | Plain-English size |
|---|---|---|
| More positive feelings | 0.37 | Small-to-moderate |
| More optimism | 0.24 | Small |
| Fewer negative feelings | -0.22 | Small |
| Less envy | -0.16 | Small |
| More indebtedness | 0.15 | Small |
| Higher life satisfaction | 0.12 | Very small |
For context, psychologists typically call a d of 0.2 “small” and 0.5 “medium.” So a single gratitude exercise gave people a noticeable lift in how good they felt in the moment – but only a tiny bump in how satisfied they felt with their life overall.
The authors call their focus on immediate, one-shot effects “perhaps our most limiting methodological feature.” Repeating these practices might produce bigger or longer-lasting changes, they wrote, but that wasn’t tested.
Why Your Country Matters More Than Your Gratitude Practice
Here’s the most surprising finding: the differences between countries were about 1.5 to 4.5 times bigger than the differences between practices.
Participants in Mexico reported the biggest overall boost. Norway landed close to zero, and results in China were similarly flat. “It surprised me that we found no effect at all,” said Yu, whose team collected the China data.
One thing was close to universal: feeling more positive. In every country sampled, gratitude exercises nudged positive feelings up, and the researchers estimate that effect would show up in over 98% of countries. Other benefits, like higher life satisfaction or lower envy, were much less consistent.
Why the gap? The researchers ran exploratory analyses and found hints tied to culture. For example, gratitude exercises produced smaller gains in life satisfaction in countries with stricter social norms or more hierarchical power structures. The authors stress these links are preliminary.
“A practice that feels emotionally natural and socially appropriate in one culture may feel overly explicit, awkward or unnecessary in another,” Yu said.
What This Means for Your Own Gratitude Practice
If you live in the US, the good news is that the practices broadly worked. The practical takeaway isn’t “stop journaling.” It’s “make it more social.”
A few honest caveats before you overhaul your routine:
- Immediate effects only. Mood was measured minutes after the exercise, not weeks later.
- Self-reported feelings. People rated their own mood, which is useful but not the same as clinical outcomes.
- Not a treatment. A gratitude practice isn’t a substitute for care if you’re dealing with depression or anxiety.
- Sampling varied. Some countries used volunteers, others online panels, and many recruited participants didn’t finish the survey and were excluded.
Still, the study fits a bigger pattern we keep seeing in behavior research: small, repeatable actions tend to beat grand gestures. If you’re building this into a routine, remember that new habits take closer to 66 days than 21 to feel automatic.
Try This Gratitude Practice This Week
Here’s a simple, science-informed plan based on what worked best. It takes about five minutes a day.
- Monday: Send one thank-you text. Pick someone who helped you recently. Be specific: what they did and how it helped.
- Tuesday: Thank someone you usually overlook. A coworker, a neighbor, the barista who knows your order.
- Wednesday: Write a letter you may never send. Go deeper with someone who shaped your life. Sending it is optional.
- Thursday: Try a Naikan-style check-in. Jot down what you received from others this week, what you gave, and one way you could help someone.
- Friday: Mental subtraction. Pick one good thing in your life and imagine how things would look without it.
- Weekend: Notice what felt natural. The study suggests fit matters. Keep the practice that felt right for you, and drop the one that felt forced.
If you’re using the start of fall as a reset, pair this with our guide to the fresh start effect – this week is a natural moment to begin.
The Bottom Line on Gratitude
The world’s largest test of gratitude exercises says they really do lift your mood – modestly and immediately. The most effective gratitude practice wasn’t the private list in your journal. It was reaching out and telling someone thank you.
So before you close this tab, send one text. It takes 60 seconds, and it’s the practice that topped the charts across 34 countries.
