Written by Randy Ernst, Scott Reed, Virginia Welle
Purpose
According to the American Psychological Association’s Psychology Help Center, resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity or significant sources of stress (for instance, relationship problems, work or school-related stressors). We often refer to resilience as bouncing back from a difficulty.
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Research shows that resilience is ordinary, not extraordinary. We demonstrate resilience all the time.
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Resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviors, thoughts and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone.
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Resilience does not mean we never experience difficulty or distress. Emotional pain and sadness are common in people who have suffered major adversity in their lives.
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The purpose of practicing a resilience skill is to increase emotional well-being in the face of events that can lead to physical and emotional upset.
National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula
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Pillar: Mental and Physical Health
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Standard Area: Health
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Content Standard 2: Psychological science promotes mental and physical health and wellness.
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Students are able to (learning targets):
2.1 Describe factors that promote resilience and flourishing.
2.2 Identify evidence-based strategies that promote health and wellness.
Time Required
Approximately 50 minutes
To Instructors
The purpose of this assignment is to give students an opportunity to practice a skill that helps build resilience. For this assignment to have the most impact, you should talk with students about operational definitions of resilience, Albert Ellis’ REBT (rational emotive behavioral therapy) model and demonstrate how our thoughts about upsetting events often lead to physical and/or emotional upset. Explicitly discuss the role of explanatory choice in this lesson. You are encouraged to adapt the lesson to meet the needs of your class.
Materials
See Hypothetical Examples below.
Assessment
See Criteria for Success below.
Task: Practice Resilience
First, work through the examples below illustrating how our thoughts about an activating (stressful) event can either help or harm us emotionally. Next, have students generate their own activating events and write down both helpful and harmful thoughts about that event. The examples can be either an actual or hypothetical experience.
Hypothetical Example #1
A classmate says he will text you about a get-together taking place on Friday night. It’s late Friday afternoon, but you have not heard from the classmate. You don’t actually know why he didn’t text you. What are some of the possible reasons why he did not text you?
Instruct students to create a list of possible reasons why the text did not arrive. Compile the reasons on the board, and discuss (for each reason) whether each is emotionally harming or not.
Non emotionally-harming (that is, resilient) explanations/reasons
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Phone died (ran out of power).
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Phone got taken away.
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Sent text to the wrong person.
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Accidentally wrote your number down wrong.
Emotionally harmful (non-resilient) explanations/reasons
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He doesn’t like me.
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He was probably told not to let me know where the get-together is.
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I’m a loser.
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I’m not important enough to get an invitation.
Teaching Points
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The actual reason is not known.
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Given that the reason is not known, it is emotionally beneficial to choose an explanation that is not harmful.
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Choosing a non-harmful reason is more resilient that choosing one that hurts.
Hypothetical Example #2
You get a note from the assistant principal saying, “See me before the end of the day.” Again, ask students to generate emotionally helpful and emotionally harmful reasons behind the note.
Hypothetical Example #3
Have students generate their own activating (stressful) events. Have them work through both possible emotionally beneficial and emotionally harmful explanations.
Criteria for Success
Basic
The student is able to identify a thought/explanation for an activating (stressful event) but unable to identify whether the thought is resilient or harmful.
Proficient
The student can accurately identify 2 thoughts that are unlikely to lead to emotional harm, and 2 thoughts that are likely to lead to emotional harm.
Advanced
The student can accurately identify 3 or more thoughts that are unlikely to lead to emotional harm, and 3 or more thoughts that are likely to lead to emotional harm.
Adapted From
The Albert Ellis Institute. (nd). Rational emotive & cognitive-behavior therapy. Retrieved from https://albertellis.org/rebt-cbt-therapy/opens in new window
American Psychological Association Help Center. (nd). The road to resilience. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. (2018). National assessment of educational progress: Scale scores and achievement levels. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/achievement.aspxopens in new window
This resource was developed by a Working Group on Skills that Promote Well-Being and Flourishing from the APA Summit on High School Psychology Education (July 2017).