Sarah A. Schnitker, Ph.D.

Professor, Psychology & Neuroscience Baylor University

  • Waco TX

Leading researcher on the study of patience & gratitude and religion's role in virtue development in adolescents & emerging adults.

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Reflection, Recognition and Expression: The Science of Cultivating Gratitude

Baylor positive psychology researchers offer three ways to increase gratitude and empathy Credit: Marina Demidiuk / iStock / Getty Images Plus Gratitude research delves into the science surrounding human emotions and the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of actively expressing gratefulness. Leading Baylor University positive psychology researchers Sarah Schnitker, Ph.D., and Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D., who specialize in the study of gratitude, have identified three science-based mechanisms that can cultivate gratitude and improve empathy. This work is especially timely during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Through the examination of previous studies and the broader literature on the process and benefits of gratitude, the associate professors of psychology and neuroscience have discovered that some previous understandings of gratitude may not tell the whole story. By engaging gratitude in a way that benefits the whole community, the researchers identified ways to engage in gratitude that move the emotions of gratitude beyond a fleeting feeling and become virtuous through helping others. “Gratitude does seem to increase well-being, but not all the time,” Schnitker said. “It sometimes decreases depression and anxiety symptoms, but not always. It makes you more generous, more kind, more caring, but again, not always,” Schnitker said. “[That’s why] we’ve been looking at how to cultivate gratitude in such a way as to really impact flourishing. Not just individual well-being, but also the well-being of other people around them.” Deep reflection Through intentional deep reflection of what we are grateful for, we can move past the cycle of “hedonic adaption” – a theory that proposes people will quickly return to a baseline level of happiness, despite the effects of major positive or negative life events – and into a positive emotional state of gratitude. “You have to pay attention and be intentional about reflecting,” Schnitker said. “Part of the reason is that, like a hedonic treadmill, we get used to our current state; it becomes part of the background, and it no longer benefits our well-being.” Schnitker describes intentionally recognizing who and what you are grateful for as a tool that leads to feelings of greater happiness and connection. “What we find is that by incorporating practices that engage deep reflection – that are structured and effortful – it will lead to higher levels of life satisfaction and gratitude,” she said. Recognizing a giver When you recognize the person for whom you are grateful, you begin to move from feeling thankful for that person to feeling thankful to that person. Schnitker suggests writing gratitude letters to acknowledge those for whom we feel grateful. “Go beyond being thankful and think about the giver; whether that is God or someone else in your life, take the time to deeply consider them,” Schnitker said. “The suggestion of writing a letter over a list is effective in that you are addressing it to someone outside of yourself, and it can build deeper connections.” Jenae Nelson, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate in Schnitker’s Science of Virtues Lab at Baylor, has found that expressions of gratitude through letter writing towards an entity increased empathy and transcendent indebtedness in participants significantly more than writing a gratitude list. Participants who felt transcendent indebtedness, or a desire to pay it forward, were much more generous in charitable donations than those who just felt gratitude during the experiment. “This is compelling evidence that gratitude has to work in harmony with other prosocial emotions such as indebtedness and empathy to promote generosity, which are only activated when someone thinks about a person to whom they are grateful,” said Nelson. Outward expression The act of outwardly expressing thankfulness to the giver, whether that is a human, nature or God, can transform it from a temporary feeling into virtuous gratitude. It is the intentional effort of action that contributes to the flourishing of other people. “So many of the studies will have people just write a letter and not necessarily send it,” Schnitker said. “Writing the thank-you note and sending it – either electronically or in the mail – may enhance the impact of the gratitude practice. Expressing gratitude is a natural response and can compound its benefits because both the recipient and giver of thanks can experience an increase in positive emotions.” Essentially, you might not be able to thank the person directly, but expressing your gratitude outwardly could lead to expansive generosity. Research suggests that people treasure feeling thanked. It boosts their own well-being, especially in Western societies and the cultural context of the United States. "So have the courage to reach out and thank them," Schnitker said. Gratitude expressed with these components and mechanisms promotes well-being for both self and those around you. “We find that when people feel that genuine gratitude, not only do they want to pay it back, but they also want to pay it forward,” Schnitker said.

Sarah A. Schnitker, Ph.D.

Biography

Dr. Sarah Schnitker joined the Psychology and Neuroscience Department at Baylor University in fall 2018 as an Associate Professor. She holds a Ph.D and an M.A. in Personality and Social Psychology from the University of California, Davis, and a BA in Psychology from Grove City College. Prior to joining the faculty at Baylor University, Schnitker was an Associate Professor in the Thrive Center for Human Development at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. Schnitker studies virtue and character development in adolescents and emerging adults, with a focus on the role of spirituality and religion in virtue formation. She specializes in the study of patience, self-control, gratitude, generosity, and thrift. Schnitker has procured more than $3.5 million in funding as a principle investigator on multiple research grants, and she has published in a variety of scientific journals and edited volumes. Schnitker is a Member-at-Large for APA Division 36 – Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, is a Consulting Editor for the organization’s flagship journal, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, and is the recipient of the Virginia Sexton American Psychological Association’s Division 36 Mentoring Award.

Areas of Expertise

Spirituality and Gratitude
Religious Motivation & Development
Positive Psychology

Accomplishments

Mentoring Award

Virginia Sexton American Psychological Association’s Division 36

Education

University of California, Davis

Ph.D.

Personality and Social Psychology

University of California, Davis

M.A.

Personality and Social Psychology

Grove City College

B.A.

Psychology

Media Appearances

In a First Among Christians, Young Men Are More Religious Than Young Women

The New York Times  online

2024-09-29

This article about a recent survey by the Survey Center on American Life at the American Enterprise Institute finding that Gen Z men are now more religious than their female peers includes interviews with Baylor faculty Beth Allison Barr, Ph.D., The James Vardaman Endowed Professor of History and author of “The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth,” and Sarah A. Schnitker, Ph.D., professor of psychology who co-directs the longitudinal Developing Character in College Communities study.

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Sacred meaning in motion: How spiritual body movements affect our emotions, according to recent study

PsyPost  online

2023-12-07

The way people move their bodies and the sacred meanings they attach to these movements can significantly affect their emotions, according to new research pubished in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. The study was conducted at Baylor’s Science of Virtues Lab, which was established at the University by leading virtues researcher Sarah Schnitker, Ph.D.

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How Patient Is Too Patient? Are You Wisely Waiting Or Languishing?

Forbes  online

2023-12-01

Baylor psychology and neuroscience professor Sarah A. Schnitker, Ph.D., is quoted in this article about the value of patience, which rests on three things: what kind of patience you’re talking about, the opportunities around you, and the details of your personal situation.

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Research Grants

Character Strength Interventions in Adolescents: Engaging Scholars and Practitioners to Promote Virtue Development

John Templeton Foundation

2018

The purpose of this project is to galvanize widespread scientific development of virtue interventions for adolescents across a diversity of contexts (e.g., athletic teams, religious organizations, youth community centers, online) that attend to spirituality and transcendent purpose.

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Articles

High Goal Conflict and Low Goal Meaning are Associated with an Increased Likelihood of Subsequent Religious Transformation in Adolescents

Journal of Research in Personality

Sarah A. Schnitker et al.

2019

Adolescence is one of the most common periods during which people report religious transformations (Regnerus & Uecker, 2006), but few studies have examined what variables might precipitate a transformation during adolescence. Based on early writings of James, 1902, Starbuck, 1911, we tested the hypotheses that adolescents are more likely to experience a religious transformation when they have (a) lower global meaning, (b) lower goal meaning, and (c) higher goal conflict. Participants (N = 137) were adolescents living in Western Europe involved in a service trip with Young Life, a non-denominational Christian organization. Participants with lower strivings meaning and higher strivings conflict before the trip were more likely to experience a religious transformation during the trip.

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Spiritual struggles and mental health outcomes in a spiritually integrated inpatient program

Journal of Affective Disorders

Sarah A. Schnitker et al.

2019

Focusing on 217 adults who completed a spiritually integrated inpatient program, this study examined (1) which struggles in Exline et al.’s (2014) framework (Divine, Morality, Ultimate Meaning, Interpersonal, Demonic, and Doubting) represented the most salient indicators of major depressive disorder (MDD) symptomatology and positive mental health (PMH) and (2) whether alleviation of these struggles predicted improvements in patients’ mental health status over the treatment period.

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Mind the gap: evolutionary psychological perspectives on human thriving

Journal of Positive Psychology

Sarah A. Schnitker et al.

2017

The amount of psychological literature focusing on human thriving and flourishing has grown in recent years, but this topic is currently subject to much conceptual ambiguity. Evolutionary psychology, though often not included in discussions on optimal human development, provides a framework that benefits considerations of human thriving. Humans exhibit a high degree of niche construction by which they alter their environment, in turn affecting their offspring. Such niche construction is enabled by unique human capacities, but these same capacities are then required to ‘mind the gap’ between human nature and the altered environmental niche. As such, thriving may in part be understood as the ability of the individual to navigate difficulties resulting from a mismatch between their nature and niche. Three unique features of the human species that are used to both create and navigate this gap are considered as they relate to the existing literature on human thriving.

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