I just discovered a new series of videos called SciFusion Shorts, which posts well-produced, video interviews with psychology researchers around the world. They’re a great place to hear about cutting-edge research and practice research methods concepts such as conceptual definitions, operational definitions, ethics, and graphing correlational results.

One example is a video with Dr. Iris Mauss of University of California, Berkeley, who studies resilience. During an interview, Dr. Mauss walks through key elements of the research process.

a) Around 0:24, Dr. Mauss provides the conceptual definition (Ch 5) of resilience. How does she define it?

b) Around 2:25, Dr. Mauss describes how they study resilience (that is, how they operationalize it), both in surveys and in the lab. Why is it a good idea to use film clips to induce feelings of sadness or upset? You should mention both scientific reasons and ethical reasons.

c) At minute 4:40 you can hear a description of one study on cognitive reframing. First, what is cognitive reframing?
Second, Dr Mauss’s team found that some people are good at reframing, and others are not so good at it. What is this ability correlated with?

d) Sketch the result related to reframing (described around 6:00), with a scatter plot. Why is a scatterplot better here than a bar graph? (Hint: Dr Mauss calls cognitive reframing ability a “continuum”)

e) Think of a stressful event that happened in your own life recently. What are one or two ways you could have cognitively reframed it so that you feel less upset by it?