Noach – Hakoras HaTovah
Noach 11.5 אשר בנו בני האדם
Rashi asks who else could we have thought were building the tower? Rather the Torah is associating them to Adam Harishon who was כפוי טובה - ingrateful to Hashem for his wife, and these people were aslo ingrateful to Hashem who saved them for the mabul and provided them with so much goodness.
It seems that this is the natural human condition for Bnei HaAdam, (Aznaim LaTorah says this excludes Noach and those who would follow his lead who DID show Hakoras HaTov) for although Hashem gave him the exercise of gratitude when nothing would grow until Adam would appreciate the value of rain, the short lived experience did not instill this trait within the DNA of mankind.
However as we find our Sages compare Noach to Avraham, we may inspect Avraham's manner of using Hakoras HaTov as the foundation of Avodas Hashem. It worked because he put a clear price tag on what was owed. And only then did he offer to cover the tab if his guests showed appreciation to Hashem.
There are two steps in instilling this midah in ourselves and in the chinuch of our children. One is dispelling the notion of entitlement and recognize that there is some indebtedness for what was done. This hopefully is an easy training - by instructing children (and ourselves) to say thank you. This was the basic level of training for Adam, and yet it still was not absorbed in him.
However, the true midah is when the Tov received is quantified. It is measured to appreciate the extent of the goodness done and properly express gratitude accordingly.
When someone is not yet a Makir Tovah, it behooves his benefactor to first make him pay and only then offer the gift. This allows the recipient to clearly understand what is owed and yet being given as gift.