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Resilience is more about being flexible than about staying positive

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2015

Sander L. Koole
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The [email protected]://emotionregulationlab.com/?page_id=45
Susanne Schwager
Affiliation:
Institut für Psychosoziale Medizin und Psychosomatik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, D-07740 Jena, Germany. [email protected]@uni-jena.dehttp://www.mpsy.uniklinikum-jena.de/Mitarbeiter/Susanne+Schwager.htmlhttp://www2.uni-jena.de/svw/allgpsy2/index.php?page=staff&id=rothermund&detail=allg
Klaus Rothermund
Affiliation:
Institut für Psychosoziale Medizin und Psychosomatik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, D-07740 Jena, Germany. [email protected]@uni-jena.dehttp://www.mpsy.uniklinikum-jena.de/Mitarbeiter/Susanne+Schwager.htmlhttp://www2.uni-jena.de/svw/allgpsy2/index.php?page=staff&id=rothermund&detail=allg

Abstract

Kalisch et al. propose a positive appraisal style as the key mechanism that underlies resilience. The present authors suggest that flexibility in emotion processing is more conducive to resilience than a general positivity bias. People may achieve emotional flexibility through counter-regulation – a dynamic processing bias toward positive stimuli in negative contexts and negative stimuli in positive contexts.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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