People react to life events in different ways. While some individuals become overwhelmed by everyday hassles, others react positively to the most challenging experiences. The study of psychological resilience aims to understand why some people can withstand – or even thrive on – difficult life events. Psychological resilience has been defined as “a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity”. In other words, a resilient person can quickly bounce back from adversity and positively adapt to the novel demands of the situation.
Psychological resilience has been conceptualized both as a personality trait and as a process that changes over time. From a trait perspective, people differ in their general ability to deal with adversity. Over the course of a lifetime, some people may develop a personality trait to better deal with life challenges. From a process perspective, resilience is conceptualized as a dynamic process that is dependent on circumstances. Thus, while a person may react positively to adversity at one point in his or her life, it does not mean that this person will react the same resilient way in other adverse moments of his or her life. In other words, resilience may alter if circumstances change.
Although resilience is typically associated with the individual’s ability to effectively deal with negative life events, resilience can also result from effective dealing with positive events. For instance, research has found that a higher capacity to savor the moment predicted lower levels of work-family conflict, suggesting that savoring may be a helpful way to cope with work and family demands. During stressful events, the positive emotions that emerge from savoring can help offset the experience of negative emotions. In fact, savoring positive experiences has been suggested to be the most beneficial for people who experience fewer daily positive events.
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