Grupitud

Grupitud is a socio-psychological construct that describes the experience, expression, and social norms of gratitude directed toward groups, collectives, or social networks rather than toward individual persons. The term combines group-related meaning with gratitude, and while it is not widely standardized, it appears in interdisciplinary discussions on collective emotion and social cohesion.

The concept distinguishes three levels: individual-level gratitude toward a group as a recipient, enacted grupitud through public acknowledgment or ritual, and perceived grupitud as an attribute attributed to a group by its members or others. Proponents argue that Grupitud supports cooperation, trust, and reciprocity by signaling alignment with group norms and acknowledging shared effort.

Mechanisms include social identity processes, where gratitude reinforces belonging to a group; normative compliance, where public expressions of grupitud set expectations for members; and reputational signaling, where showing gratitude toward a group enhances perceived reliability and moral standing. Expressions can take form of public thanks to institutions, collective commemorations, or mass acknowledgments of teamwork within organizations.

Contexts include workplaces, volunteer organizations, communities recovering from disasters, and civic institutions. Potential benefits include increased prosocial behavior, strengthened social capital, and enhanced morale. Criticisms note that Grupitud can be performative or ambiguous, risk masking individual accountability, and may be co-opted for political or marketing ends if not grounded in genuine group processes.

Measurement remains exploratory, with scales assessing frequency, intensity, and perceived sincerity of group-directed gratitude, and behavioral experiments examining its effects on cooperation. Further research is needed to clarify construct boundaries, cross-cultural validity, and practical implications.