Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology Baylor University
- Waco TX
Researcher in the area of social psychology, moral rationalization and emotion, the psychology of religion, forgiveness, and gratitude
Media
Biography
Some current research programs include studies on the use of behavioral measures to assess gratitude, social outcomes of perceptions of divine forgiveness, empathy, and the psychology of religion and prejudice.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Top 2% of Researchers Most Cited in Higher Ed Research
Stanford University
2022-2026
Core Curriculum Virtues Award: Empathy
Baylor College of Arts and Sciences
2022-2023
Baylor Fellow
Baylor University
2015-2016
Professor of the Year
Baylor Psi Chi
2008
Education
University of California, Berkeley
B.A.
Psychology
1994
University of Kansas.
M.A.
Psychology
1996
University of Kansas
Ph.D.
Social Psychology
2000
Affiliations
- Association for Psychological Science
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology
- Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
Media Appearances
Want to start the new year on the right foot? Showing gratitude may help
Dallas News online
2025-12-30
“If you know someone is intending to help you or they are doing it for benevolent reasons because they care about you, you end up feeling more grateful,” said Jo-Ann Tsang, an associate professor of psychology at Baylor University. “If you suspect someone got you a gift because they are trying to manipulate you or get something from you, then your gratitude is going to be a lot lower.”
When You Struggle To Be Grateful For What You Have
Scary Mommy online
2021-07-20
We cannot overlook one’s personality traits when it comes to understanding (and being) grateful. A study conducted by Dr. Jo-Ann Tsang, Associate Professor of Psychology at Baylor University, found that people who reported being less envious and materialistic also reported being more grateful. The opposite was also found to be true; people who reported low satisfaction about their own lives also felt less grateful. And according to a study by psychologists at Eastern Washington University, there are four traits closely associated with feeling ungrateful: narcissism, indebtedness, materialism, and cynicism. People who display these traits are more likely to feel unsatisfied with what they have in their own lives.
People Feel More Grateful for a ‘Special Favor’ — One Only for Themselves — Than They Do for a Group Benefit
Newswise online
2020-06-29
People felt less gratitude when they read about receiving a favor along with many other individuals, as opposed to a favor that was only given to themselves, according to a Baylor University study. This is because people tend to think that benefactors who help them as individuals care more about them, specifically, compared to benefactors who help them in a group.
Study participants also were more likely to have a higher opinion of a benefactor who gave an individual favor rather than a favor to a group, said study author Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience.
Gratitude Without God
The Atlantic online
2014-11-26
The social science on gratitude is pretty resolute: Feeling thankful is good for you. "There’s something called a grateful personality that some psychologists have studied," said Jo-Ann Tsang, a psychologist at Baylor University. "They find that if you’re greater in the grateful personality, you tend to have increased life satisfaction, happiness, optimism, hope, positive emotion, and ... less anxiety and depression."
Articles
The perceived vulnerability to disease scale: Cross‐cultural measurement invariance and associations with fear of COVID‐19 across 16 countries
Social and Personality Psychology Compass2023
Using cross‐sectional data from N = 4274 young adults across 16 countries during the COVID‐19 pandemic, we examined the cross‐cultural measurement invariance of the perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) scale and tested the hypothesis that the association between PVD and fear of COVID‐19 is stronger under high disease threat [that is, absence of COVID‐19 vaccination, living in a country with lower Human Development Index (HDI) or higher COVID‐19 mortality]. Results supported a bi‐factor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling model where items loaded on a global PVD factor, and on the sub‐factors of Perceived Infectability and Germ Aversion. However, cross‐national invariance could only be obtained on the configural level with a reduced version of the PVD scale (PVD‐r), suggesting that the concept of PVD may vary across nations.
Prejudice among the religious majority: A person-centered approach to prejudice among Christians in the United States
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality2024
Much of the recent work on prejudice emphasizes individual differences, which focuses on the strength of relations between variables on specific instances of prejudice such as racial–ethnic or sexual prejudices. However, the relations between religiosity and prejudice variables are inconsistent and sometimes even paradoxical (Allport, 1954). In three studies of Christian Americans (N= 2,271), we utilized a person-centered data-analytic approach to identify distinct subgroups or profiles characterized by similar self-reported prejudices. Our results support four distinct profiles of prejudice among Christians in the United States. We labeled the profiles of prejudices Generalized, Tepid, Sanctioned, and Warm. The Generalized profile demonstrated prejudice toward people in historically disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and sexual orientation groups.
Hostile and prosocial reactions to Christian privilege in the United States: A registered report.
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality2024
Reactions to privilege include hostility (eg, denial of privilege) and prosociality (eg, remorse). Studies suggest that White Americans often react hostilely when confronted with racial and class privilege, but research on reactions to religious privilege is limited. The current registered report investigated how religiousness is related to hostile and prosocial reactions to religious privilege. Three studies tested the relationship between religiousness and reactions to religious privilege. In Study 1, a correlational study, we expected parochial religious variables (Christian nationalism, religious fundamentalism, perceptions of religious threat) would be related to hostile reactions to religious privilege, whereas more universal dimensions of religiousness (intellectual humility, gratitude toward God, and sanctification of social justice) would be related to prosocial reactions.
Feelings of gratitude to Allah and people and their associations with affect in daily life
Cognition and Emotion2025
Gratitude has been studied in the context of human social relationships primarily, but relatively less is known about gratitude in relation to a deity. We extended this research by studying gratitude among Muslim American adolescents, an understudied population, by comparing feelings of gratitude to Allah with feelings of gratitude to people in their associations with affect in daily life. Muslim adolescents (N = 202) participated in an Ecological Momentary Assessment study by completing up to three momentary reports each day during three separate weeks. Within-person results showed that both forms of gratitude were positively associated with concurrent happiness and calmness and were negatively associated with concurrent anxiety and sadness, though gratitude to people was a stronger predictor of happiness than gratitude to Allah.
We’re “awe” in this together: collective solar eclipse viewing amplifies awe
The Journal of Positive Psychology2025
We investigated the psychological effects of viewing the April 2024 total solar eclipse among adults in the United States. After eclipse-viewing, participants in three studies completed measures of affect, awe-connectedness and viewing context (alone/with others). Studies 2 and 3 also included pre-tests. Across studies, eclipse-viewers reported moderate levels of positive affect (PA), awe, and connectedness and low negative affect (NA). Repeated-measures analyses revealed main effects of time and viewing context on PA and awe. Eclipse-viewers reported higher levels of PA and awe after viewing than before, and when experiencing the eclipse with others compared to alone. People who experienced the eclipse with others reported the highest PA.
