Pathways to Resilience III: Beyond Nature vs. Nurture

Innovation and Resilience:

Abstract#182
Social Media, Information Technology and Resilience
Presenter: Forbes Hamilton
Abstract:
The measurement of resilience is traditionally focused on questionnaires or an interview led process carried out by qualified and trained and experienced psychologists. With developments in technology and the cultural acceptance of alternative communications methods there are innovative ways to engage young people in assessments of resilience using technology that is already familiar to them from gaming and social media. In this presentation, we’ll discuss a new interface for young people to self-direct their assessment of resilience. The approach can also be used to provide real-time responses to youth so that their assessment results in suggestions for treatment and monitors progress towards treatment goals. More than an app, new advances to technological interfaces are permitting opportunities for full engagement of young people with their assessment. Further we will review results of a trial where resilience was self-diagnosed using social media with treatments offered as a responses in a “conversation”

Abstract #215
Resilience in Minority and Female Entrepreneurs: Differences by Ethnicity and Gender
Presenter: Maria Lugo Co-presenter: Lois M. Shelton
Abstract:
Recent research indicates that resilience is important for entrepreneurs (Krueger, 2000; Bullough, et al., 2013), since it enables them to overcome barriers in launching and growing businesses (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000; Bullough, et al., 2013). Due to social stratification resulting from gender and racial discrimination, minority and women entrepreneurs in the United States, face more barriers, or risk factors, than other population groups (Shelton, 2010).  However, minority entrepreneurs also benefit from unique special attributes, or protective factors, by virtue of the adaptive cultures of minority populations (O’Donnell et al., 2004, Romero, 2011). Since resilience is developed by the interaction of risk and protective factors (Luthar, 2006), it is argued here that minority and women entrepreneurs may have a different level and type of resilience than their white and male counterparts due to their exposure to different risk and protective factors. Here, the focus is on African-American and Hispanic entrepreneurs. A model informed by Garcia Coll et al.'s (1996) developmental competencies model and the Luthar’s (2006) protective-stabilizing and vulnerable stable effects illustrates how gender and ethnicity affect risk and protective factors, and accordingly, resilience through the impact of social stratification and adaptive cultures.

Abstract #256
A Model of Human Resilience in Science and Engineering Environments 
Presenter: Johnny Thomas
Abstract:
Research on critical infrastructure systems (e.g., water, power and roadways) has identified that engineering resilience depends on both system design and human behavior to manage adverse effects of catastrophic events. However, current engineering resilience research that considers human subjects largely ignores the interconnectivity of individual and organizational interiority—cognition, affect, values, and culture, with exteriority—individual and group behaviors, social structures, and operating mechanisms. Without a complete understanding of the internal and external human capabilities necessary for engineering resilience, current methods will remain ineffective to support the measurement, design, or operation of more resilient systems. This paper presents an integration of psychological, social, and engineering resilience methods to identify human capabilities that foster more resilient engineering infrastructure. Further, this work will identify how human resilience relates to four socio-technical processes necessary for engineering resilience: Sensing—to monitor state variables, Anticipation—to imagine possible state outcomes, Adaptation—to change state variables for a higher performance, and Learning—to create and integrate new knowledge that informs behaviors (SAAL). Examples of developmental traits and capabilities that improve SAAL processes are presented to examine the interconnectivity of engineering systems with the interiority and exteriority of the people and organizations responsible their design and operation.