An empirical relationship has been documented between gratitude and materialism such that stronger feelings of gratitude are associated with lower materialism. Building on Fredrickson's (1998 2001) theory that positive emotions "broaden- and -build" we sought to expand upon this finding by (1) examining satisfaction with life as a potential mechanism for this relationship and (2) exploring the causal direction of this relationship through experimental means. Study 1 (n = 131) demonstrated that satisfaction with life mediated the relationship between gratitude and materialism. Study 2 (n = 171) showed that that experimentally induced gratitude resulted in higher satisfaction with life and lower materialism in a high gratitude condition compared to an envy (low gratitude) condition. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.