Resilience vs. Adaptation: Framing and action

Responses to climate change may be viewed as requiring primarily ‘‘Resilience’’ or ‘‘Adaptation.’’ We examine how those two terms affect lay responses to the risks of coastal flooding and sea level rise. We use two tasks requiring substantial participant involvement, one providing minimal information and one substantial information. In Study 1, participants spent ten minutes writing an essay about a picture with flooding, labeled with ‘‘Resilience’’ or ‘‘Adaptation.’’ In Study 2, participants used an interactive aid to evaluate moving to a coastal community described as having a policy of Resilience or Adaptation, or having No Stated Policy. In Study 1, both groups judged the threat of flood similarly. In Study 2, Resilience was associated with increased concern about risks, but less willingness to take individual protective action. 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Resilience vs. Adaptation The terms ‘‘Resilience’’ and ‘‘Adaptation’’ compete as ways to frame discussions about meeting the challenge of climate change (Adger et al., 2005; Brown, 2013; Dietz et al., 2009; McEvoy et al., 2013; Nelson et al., 2007). As discussed below, scientific usage of the two terms suggests rather different forms of mobilization. Here we ask how the choice of term affects lay responses to the risks of coastal flooding, as expressed in two tasks, one with minimal content and one with detailed (informational) content. The psychological concept of Resilience has its roots in child development research (Antonovsky et al., 1971; Hill, 1958; Werner, 1993). Scientists wondered why some people who experience multiple stressors still grow into healthy adults (Masten, 2001). Their studies identified supportive factors in both individuals (e.g., talent, physical health) and their environments (e.g., help from extended families or mentors). Psychological studies of Adaptation ask how people respond to stressors, without presuming that they master the challenges (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). Many accounts are variants of Adaptation Level Theory (Helson, 1948), according to which people come to treat new situations as the norm, even when that means accepting a diminished state. For example, Cognitive Adaptation Theory (Taylor, 1983) examines how people find meaning in trauma; Interpersonal Adaptation Theory (Burgoon et al., 2007) considers how they adapt to new social settings. Thus, for psychologists, ‘‘Resilience’’ is a trait, reflecting a general ability to master challenges, whereas ‘‘Adaptation’’ is a state, reflecting how individuals deal with specific stressors. Resilience includes the ability to acquire new capabilities, perhaps emerging stronger from the struggle, whereas Adaptation entails preserving existing resources. If these terms evoke the