As part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, Dr. Fiona Cownie, Senior Principal Academic in FMC and Kate Bond, Matron at Royal Bournemouth Hospital hosted a session on November 10th on the power and challenges of expressing gratitude.During the session, we argued:
- Feelings and expressions of gratitude are important because they can motivate engagement.
- However we find that expressions of gratitude can feel awkward or even ‘weird’.
- Informal expressions of gratitude which encompass the many may be more effective than formal expressions of gratitude.
- Perhaps we underestimate feelings of gratitude
- If this is the case then a key reciprocal pulse for relational exchange is undervalued.
The ESRC Festival of Social Science offers a fascinating insight into some of the country’s leading social science research and how it influences our social, economic, and political lives both now and in the future. Bournemouth University hosted 11 events in Bournemouth and London to share some of the social science research that happens at the university.
