Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T10:57:13.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

“If you want to understand something, try to change it”: Social-psychological interventions to cultivate resilience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2015

Eddie Brummelman
Affiliation:
Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, 1001 NG Amsterdam, [email protected]://www.uva.nl/over-de-uva/organisatie/medewerkers/content/b/r/e.brummelman/e.brummelman.html
Gregory M. Walton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. [email protected]://web.stanford.edu/~gwalton

Abstract

We argue that social psychology has unique potential for advancing understanding of resilience. An exciting development that illustrates this is the emergence of social-psychological interventions – brief, stealthy, and psychologically precise interventions – that can yield broad and lasting benefits by targeting key resilience mechanisms. Such interventions provide a causal test of resilience mechanisms and bring about positive change in people's lives.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Brummelman, E., Thomaes, S., Walton, G. M., Poorthuis, A. M. G., Overbeek, G., Orobio de Castro, B. & Bushman, B. J. (2014a) Unconditional regard buffers children's negative self-feelings. Pediatrics 134(6):1119–26. doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-3698.Google Scholar
Brummelman, E., Thomaes, S., Walton, G. M., Reijntjes, A., Orobio de Castro, B. & Sedikides, C. (2014b) The connecting power of being greeted by name for adolescents. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. L. & Sherman, D. K. (2014) The psychology of change: Self-affirmation and social psychological intervention. Annual Review of Psychology 65:333–71. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115137 Google Scholar
Cook, J. E., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Garcia, J. & Cohen, G. L. (2012) Chronic threat and contingent belonging: Protective benefits of values affirmation on identity development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 102(3):479–96. doi: 10.1037/a0026312.Google Scholar
Leary, M. R. & Baumeister, R. F. (2000) The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer theory. In: Advances in experimental social psychology, vol. 32, ed. Zanna, M. P., pp. 162. Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/S0065-2601(00)80003-9 Google Scholar
Mendoza-Denton, R., Downey, G., Purdie, V. J., Davis, A. & Pietrzak, J. (2002) Sensitivity to status-based rejection: Implications for African American students' college experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83(4):896918. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.83.4.896 Google Scholar
Raudenbush, S. W. (1984) Magnitude of teacher expectancy effects on pupil IQ as a function of the credibility of expectancy induction: A synthesis of findings from 18 experiments. Journal of Educational Psychology 76(1):8597. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.76.1.85 Google Scholar
Rogers, C. (1961) On becoming a person: A therapist's view of psychotherapy. Riverside Press.Google Scholar
Ross, L. & Nisbett, R. E. (1991) The person and the situation: Perspectives of social psychology. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Sowislo, J. F. & Orth, U. (2013) Does low self-esteem predict depression and anxiety? A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin 139(1):213–40. doi: 10.1037/a0028931 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Srull, T. K. & Wyer, R. S. (1979) The role of category accessibility in the interpretation of information about persons: Some determinants and implications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37(10):1660–72. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.37.10.1660 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, G. M. (2014) The new science of wise psychological interventions. Current Directions in Psychological Science 23(1):7382. doi: 10.1177/0963721413512856 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, G. M. & Cohen, G. L. (2007) A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92(1):8296. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.92.1.82 Google Scholar
Walton, G. M. & Cohen, G. L. (2011) A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students. Science 331 (6023):1447–51. doi: 10.1126/science.1198364.Google Scholar
Walton, G. M., Logel, C., Peach, J. M., Spencer, S. J. & Zanna, M. P. (2015) Two brief interventions to mitigate a “chilly climate” transform women's experience, relationships, and achievement in engineering. Journal of Educational Psychology 107(2):468–85. doi: 10.1037/a0037461.Google Scholar
Wilson, T. D. (2011) Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change. Little Brown.Google Scholar
Yeager, D. S. & Dweck, C. S. (2012) Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist 47(4):113. doi: 10.1080/00461520.2012.722805 Google Scholar
Yeager, D. S., Trzesniewski, K. H. & Dweck, C. S. (2013) An implicit theories of personality intervention reduces adolescent aggression in response to victimization and exclusion. Child Development 84(3):970–88. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12003 Google Scholar
Yeager, D. S. & Walton, G. M. (2011) Social-psychological interventions in education. They're not magic. Review of Educational Research 81(2):267301. doi: 10.3102/0034654311405999 Google Scholar