Multi-Million Dollar Gratitude Project Seeks Researchers

Offering a "thank you" to a friend or family member may be more powerful than you think.

Scientists claim being grateful can chase away the blues, bring more joy into your life and even help lower high blood pressure.

That's why UC Berkeley's Greater Good Center is undertaking a five-year project to measure the effect being grateful has on adults and children. The center is offering research grants and awards to those who will study the subject.

If nothing else, it should make the researchers happy, since they'll have a lot to be grateful for.

The $5.9 million, three year project will leave no stone unturned in examining gratitude and its role in society. More than $3 million will be spent on scientific research into gratitude's impact on individual health and well being.

Reserchers seeking grants have until Feb. 15 to apply, and can do so online here.

Doctoral candidates will be eligible for $10,000 research grants for innovative dissertations on being grateful, and the University of California along with Hofstra University will look at the role of gratitude in kids' emotional development. The center will also continue to cover the realm of scientific research about gratitude through its website, books and videos, and a "Global Gratitude Journal" will allow the public to record the things they are grateful for and enable scientists to study the data.

There's even a competition for developing cell phone apps that center on gratitude and thankgiving, so you can feel happy while riding BART and surfing the Web on your smartphone.

What do you think of the Greater Good Center's gratitude project? Is thankfulness powerful? Share your thoughts in the comments.