The first motivation was to find a new solution to a persistent public health challenge—smoking, which remains one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide. The second motivation was to better understand how emotions influence human behavior. We aimed to test a new hypothesis: Gratitude may differ from other positive emotions in its power to reduce harmful health behaviors like smoking. This hypothesis challenges the conclusion from prior meta-analyses that positive emotions generally do not reduce harmful health behaviors.

We found that people who reported more frequent feelings of gratitude were less likely to smoke—and we didn’t find this pattern with other positive emotions, such as compassion or hope. We also found that inducing gratitude can reduce smokers’ cravings for cigarettes and increase their enrollment in an online cessation program.

Moreover, we examined the largest federally funded anti-smoking public service campaign by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We found the campaign rarely evokes gratitude, suggesting missed opportunities.

People who want to quit smoking can practice exercises that cultivate gratitude, such as journaling, to increase their success in quitting. Public health campaigns can consider invoking gratitude to reduce unhealthy behaviors.