Guys! Have Some Gratitude -- It's Good for You

Men are not only less apt to express gratitude than women, they're also less likely to feel it, according to a study of reactions to getting a gift by Todd Kashdan of George Mason University. According to Science Daily,

He found that women compared with men reported feeling less burden and obligation and greater levels of gratitude when presented with gifts. In addition, older men reported greater negative emotions when the gift giver was another man.

Kashdan, a psychologist, puts it down to differences in the way girls and boys are raised: Boys are taught to control their softer side.

True, but I can think of another explanation: We know love, trust and generosity are part of the expression of oxytocin in the brain and in the bloodstream.  Certainly gratitude fits in here. And males are less responsive to oxytocin than women, because testosterone mutes its effects.

So, the boys can't help it. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't try.

As director of the Laboratory for the Study of Social Anxiety, Character Strengths, and Related Phenomena at Mason, Kashdan studies happiness, and he's found that gratitude is one of the three most essential factors in a happy life.