24 chapter 2 adapt flexibly (adaptability), and positively transform (transformability) in the face of climate change risks. The first component of transilience indicates the perceived capacity to persist in the face of climate change risks, that is, whether people perceive they have the resources to cope and carry on in the face of climate change risks. Persistence is at the core of resilience, commonly understood as the capacity to ‘bounce back’ from stressful events (Bonanno, 2004; Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013; Galli & Vealey, 2008; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Yet, climate change adaptation may not only require preserving the status quo, but also challenging it, e.g., finding alternative ways and exploiting new opportunities (Adams, 2021; cf. Davoudi et al., 2013; Pelling, 2011). As such, we propose that the capacity to adapt to climate change is about more than persistence alone. The second component of transilience reflects the perceived capacity to adapt flexibly to climate change risks, that is, the extent to which people perceive a broad range of options to adapt to climate change risks. Adaptability allows people to respond flexibly to climate change by revising and switching between adaptation strategies when needed. Such a flexible approach may be important for long-term adaptation to climate change, which likely requires a variety of responses (Barnes et al., 2020; Cinner et al. 2018; Linquiti & Vonortas, 2012). Adaptability differs from people’s perception of their own ability to engage in protective adaptive behaviours (i.e., self-efficacy; van Valkengoed & Steg, 2019b), as it specifically reflects whether people perceive they have multiple options to adapt, rather than whether they think they can adapt at all. The third component of transilience is the perceived capacity to positively transform by adapting to climate change risks, that is, whether people perceive they can positively evolve by dealing with climate change, for instance by learning something new. Although transformability is reflected in prominent definitions of climate change adaptation, which refer to ‘finding beneficial opportunities’ (IPCC, 2014b), to the best of our knowledge, this aspect is not examined in studies aiming to understand individual adaptive responses to contemporary climate change (see Reser & Swim, 2011). However, other domains do suggest that experiencing stress and adversity can have beneficial effects. For example, people indicate that their lives have positively changed by dealing with health problems and trauma (Carver & Antoni, 2004; Helgeson et al., 2006), and dealing with severe childhood adversity can enable the development of unique strengths (Ellis et al., 2017; Jay, 2018). Climate-related hazards could also have beneficial effects, such as an increase in innovation and creativity (Fritze et al., 2008; Doherty, 2018; Degroot et al., 2021). Indeed, there is initial evidence that indigenous communities have developed better technologies and practices in response to environmental changes (Ford et al., 2020). Transformability differs from
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