Moving research on resilience into the 21st century: Theoretical and methodological considerations in examining the biological contributors to resilience

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 773-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. JOHN CURTIS ◽  
DANTE CICCHETTI

Empirical investigations of resilience over the past 30 years have examined a wide range of psychosocial correlates of, and contributors to, this phenomenon. Thus far, theoretical treatments of resilience have focused almost exclusively on psychosocial levels of analysis to derive explanatory models. However, there have been no formal discussions of either theory or research that have examined the biological contributors to, or correlates of, competent functioning despite the experience of adversity. This paper seeks to fill this gap and sets forth a preliminary theoretical framework and outline of empirical strategies for studying the biological underpinnings of resilience. The initial sections of the paper discuss the particular suitability of a transactional organizational theoretical perspective as a conceptual foundation for including a biological level of analysis within the extant theoretical framework of resilience. Subsequently, other important theoretical considerations for the inclusion of a biological perspective on resilience are discussed, including the avoidance of an approach that would reduce resilience to merely a biological process, the application of the constructs of multifinality and equifinality to a biological perspective on resilience, as well as a general discussion of the potential for utilization of brain imaging and other technologies in the study of resilience. The possible relation between the mechanisms of neural plasticity and resilience are examined in some detail, with specific suggestions concerning research questions needed to examine this association. Sections of the paper discuss the likely relation of several areas of brain and biological functioning with resilience, including emotion, cognition, neuroendocrine and immune functioning, and genetics. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of a biological perspective on resilience for preventive interventions.

2016 ◽  
Vol 224 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten M. Klingner ◽  
Stefan Brodoehl ◽  
Gerd F. Volk ◽  
Orlando Guntinas-Lichius ◽  
Otto W. Witte

Abstract. This paper reviews adaptive and maladaptive mechanisms of cortical plasticity in patients suffering from peripheral facial palsy. As the peripheral facial nerve is a pure motor nerve, a facial nerve lesion is causing an exclusive deefferentation without deafferentation. We focus on the question of how the investigation of pure deefferentation adds to our current understanding of brain plasticity which derives from studies on learning and studies on brain lesions. The importance of efference and afference as drivers for cortical plasticity is discussed in addition to the crossmodal influence of different competitive sensory inputs. We make the attempt to integrate the experimental findings of the effects of pure deefferentation within the theoretical framework of cortical responses and predictive coding. We show that the available experimental data can be explained within this theoretical framework which also clarifies the necessity for maladaptive plasticity. Finally, we propose rehabilitation approaches for directing cortical reorganization in the appropriate direction and highlight some challenging questions that are yet unexplored in the field.


2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-265
Author(s):  
Peter Galbács

This paper offers a few remarks on the so-called heterodoxy commentaries of recent times (e.g. Bod 2013, Csaba 2011). In accordance with the growing popularity of unusual economic policy actions, a set of “tools” is emerging that aims to exert its effects breaking with instrumental actions. Outlining a special framework of the history of mainstream economics, it will be argued that economic policy only gradually has become capable of applying this system. In our view, both the emergence of symbolic economic policies mentioned above and the rise of heterodoxy are on the same level, since certain governments can only operate through giving signals. Although it is not the time to formulate ultimate and eternal generalised statements, it may perhaps be stated that symbolic economic policies can make some room for manoeuvring available as a last resort. In other words, the possibility of a certain kind of economic policy “tools” can be derived from theoretical considerations, and this set has become highlighted recently by some constraining changes in the macroeconomic environment. Our theoretical framework will be filled sporadically with some episodes from the last few years of the economic policy of Hungary.


2021 ◽  

Global governance has come under increasing pressure since the end of the Cold War. In some issue areas, these pressures have led to significant changes in the architecture of governance institutions. In others, institutions have resisted pressures for change. This volume explores what accounts for this divergence in architecture by identifying three modes of governance: hierarchies, networks, and markets. The authors apply these ideal types to different issue areas in order to assess how global governance has changed and why. In most issue areas, hierarchical modes of governance, established after World War II, have given way to alternative forms of organization focused on market or network-based architectures. Each chapter explores whether these changes are likely to lead to more or less effective global governance across a wide range of issue areas. This provides a novel and coherent theoretical framework for analysing change in global governance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-100
Author(s):  
Peter-Ben Smit

This article applies the theoretical framework of ‘ritual failure’, a sub-discipline of ritual criticism, to Paul’s discussion of circumcision in his letter to the Galatians, Philippians and Romans. It is argued that the application of this theoretical perspective clarifies the dynamics at stake and provides a new way of understanding the development in Paul’s position regarding circumcision. There is movement from an attitude of strong propagation, by way of indifference and a subsequent attitude of rejection, to one of modified reintegration into Paul’s thinking. At every turn of this development, ritual failure plays a pivotal role and functions as a catalyst for the development of Paul’s theology.


1940 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. F. Mucklow

The paper deals with an investigation of the fluctuations of pressure, due to piston motion on the exhaust stroke, which occur in the exhaust pipe of a single-cylinder four-stroke engine. Indicator diagrams of exhaust-port and of cylinder pressure, and measurements of air consumption were recorded, using exhaust pipes of three different diameters at three standard engine speeds; the exhaust pipe length was varied over a wide range in each case. In the light of the data thus obtained, the effects on air consumption of progressive alterations in valve timing were studied under known conditions of exhaust port pressure. Further trials were then carried out in which the valve timing which gave the maximum air consumption was determined for the full range of conditions of speed and exhaust pipe dimensions. The experimental results are discussed, and a method is derived by which the pressures in the exhaust port throughout the cycle may be obtained from theoretical considerations; the method is also directly applicable to induction pipe conditions.


2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. V. Mishin ◽  
W. J. Burke ◽  
T. Pedersen

Abstract. Observations of airglow at 630nm (red line) and 557.7nm (green line) during HF modification experiments at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) heating facility are analyzed. We propose a theoretical framework for understanding the generation of Langmuir and ion acoustic waves during magnetic zenith injections. We show that observations of HF-induced airglow in an underdense ionosphere as well as a decrease in the height of the emitting volume are consistent with this scenario.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.V. Gornostaev

The article discusses the administrative-legal and phenomenological approaches to understanding the official loyalty. Official loyalty is being considered under the administrative-legal approach as adherence to formal official duty, which is a system of obligations, taken together with official status, the source of which are: normative base of service activity, legal requirements of the head and public interests. Lists of the limitations of administrative-legal approach to understanding the of official loyalty: weak underdeveloped concept, the failure to take into account the wide range of situations, operation with a models rather than actual processes. Discusses the advantages of the phenomenological approach in studying the performance of loyalty: its psychological advantages, the existence of a theoretical framework, the work with the real phenomena. Within the phenomenological approach official loyalty is defined as psychological-behavioral integration of the employee in the group operating in the service sector, on the basis of a common cause of activities. Possibilities of sharing of the considered approaches for the decision of problems of optimization of official activity are designated.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110503
Author(s):  
Alastair David Smith ◽  
Carlo De Lillo

Search – the problem of exploring a space of alternatives in order to identify target goals – is a fundamental behaviour for many species. Although its foundation lies in foraging, most studies of human search behaviour have been directed towards understanding the attentional mechanisms that underlie the efficient visual exploration of two-dimensional scenes. With this review, we aim to characterise how search behaviour can be explained across a wide range of contexts, environments, spatial scales, and populations, both typical and atypical. We first consider the generality of search processes across psychological domains. We then review studies of interspecies differences in search. Finally, we explore in detail the individual and contextual variables that affect visual search and related behaviours in established experimental psychology paradigms. Despite the heterogeneity of the findings discussed, we identify that variations in control processes, along with the ability to regulate behaviour as a function of the structure of search space and the sampling processes adopted, to be central to explanations of variations in search behaviour. We propose a tentative theoretical model aimed at integrating these notions and close by exploring questions that remain unaddressed.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Gauer ◽  
Barbara Germann

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework on how to deal with stressors emerging from the COVID-19 outbreak. The theoretical framework aims to explain pandemic-related stressors and potential ways to prevent them, considering a wide range of interacting factors at individual, team and organizational levels to ensure their employees’ health. Design/methodology/approach The authors drew on an integrative literature review to identify pandemic-related stressors influenceable by the organization and gathered solution approaches to counteract them. Popular psychological stress theories served as a theoretical base for the framework. Findings The authors based the framework on an integration of the transactional stress theory (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) and the job demands resources model (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004), focusing on their respective theoretical strengths. The final framework offers a solid orientation for scholars regarding the introduction of holistic and strategic measures in coping with pandemic-related stressors. A section describing possibilities for practitioners’ use of the framework has been integrated. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to offer a framework on how to handle COVID-19-related stressors in the workplace by implementing teamwide and companywide measures.


Author(s):  
Catherine Raeff

The goal of this chapter is to further consider how the theoretical framework presented in the book is applicable to so much of what people do, as well as to so many complex human issues and concerns. In this chapter, a wide net is cast to consider how the theoretical framework is applicable to eating, freedom, attitudes, extreme action, and art. By thinking about these topics in terms of action, readers can see how the book’s theoretical framework provides a common language for thinking systematically about a wide range of complex issues. The chapter shows how the book’s action perspective provides ways of thinking systematically about the complexities of action as people go about their lives in all corners of the world.


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