Cognitive Resilience Diagnostic Tool

Cognitive Resilience Diagnostic Tool (CRD)

Measure your susceptibility or resistance to various forms of information manipulation, cognitive distortion, and emotional contagion in digital environments.

Instructions

This questionnaire is designed to help you reflect on how you handle distractions, emotions, and information when using digital media. No personal data is saved; it is solely for your own self-assessment.

Read each scenario and question carefully. Use the 5-point rating scale to indicate how much you agree with each statement (or how frequently you experience the described behavior). There are no "right" or "wrong" answers—respond based on your honest self-perception.

The assessment has 20 questions across four dimensions and will take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.

Cognitive Resilience

Your ability to stay focused, handle multiple information streams, and flexibly switch thinking modes (emotional, analytical, etc.) without feeling overwhelmed.

1.
Scenario: You're reading an important email while your phone keeps buzzing with social media notifications and there's background noise (e.g., music, people talking).
How well can you remain focused on the email content despite these distractions?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
2.
Scenario: You're trying to follow a news livestream while simultaneously responding to work chat messages and checking social media.
How overwhelmed do you feel when handling multiple streams of information at once?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
3.
Scenario: You come across a post that sparks a strong emotional reaction, but you also want to analyze it logically.
How easily can you shift from an emotional to a more analytical mindset in this situation?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
4.
Scenario: You see a breaking news headline that could be clickbait.
How quickly do you engage critical thinking (e.g., fact-checking, questioning sources) to assess its credibility?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
5.
Scenario: You're reading an online forum discussion and keep getting interrupted by pop-up ads or direct messages.
How well do you maintain a coherent train of thought despite these frequent interruptions?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always

Emotional Regulation

Your awareness of and ability to manage emotional responses to digital content—especially when it is upsetting, polarizing, or highly charged.

1.
Scenario: You read an angry rant in the comment section of a social media post.
How often do you find yourself adopting that anger or frustration after reading such comments?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
2.
Scenario: A friend shares an emotional story about a controversial topic on their feed.
How likely are you to experience an amplified emotional reaction beyond your usual response?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
3.
Scenario: You come across a shocking headline while scrolling through your news feed.
How aware are you of your own emotional responses (e.g., anxiety, anger, excitement) as you continue reading?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
4.
Scenario: You see upsetting news about a global event that conflicts with your values.
How quickly can you return to a balanced emotional state once you stop reading or take a break?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
5.
Scenario: You need to decide whether to share or comment on a post that elicits a strong emotional response.
How well do you balance your emotions and logical reasoning when deciding your next action?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always

Information Processing

How you seek out, verify, and interpret digital information, including willingness to consider multiple perspectives and filter out irrelevant details.

1.
Scenario: You want to learn more about a news story you just heard.
How diverse are the sources (e.g., multiple news outlets, expert articles, fact-checking sites) you consult before forming an opinion?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
2.
Scenario: You come across a surprising statistic on social media.
How often do you verify that statistic with other reputable sources before accepting or sharing it?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
3.
Scenario: You see an article that contradicts a long-held belief or perspective of yours.
How willing are you to read it thoroughly and consider its viewpoint?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
4.
Scenario: You're researching a new topic online but encounter a lot of unrelated content, ads, or tangential links.
How easily can you filter out the irrelevant information to find what's truly important?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
5.
Scenario: You're exploring a complex social or political issue that has many nuanced arguments.
How well do you avoid seeing the issue in purely black-and-white terms?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always

Vulnerability Factors

Social and psychological tendencies that might influence how you form beliefs or share information in digital environments (e.g., seeking approval, echo chambers).

1.
Scenario: You share an opinion on social media, and it gets very few likes or comments.
How important is external validation (e.g., likes, positive feedback) to how you feel about your opinion?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
2.
Scenario: You frequently visit an online community or forum where most users share your perspective.
How much time do you spend in such spaces versus exploring viewpoints that differ from yours?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
3.
Scenario: You receive positive feedback (likes, shares, compliments) on your posts or comments.
How strongly does this influence what or how you post in the future?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
4.
Scenario: A well-known "authority" or expert posts a claim that supports your viewpoint.
How likely are you to question the validity of their claim before accepting it?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always
5.
Scenario: You encounter a topic where information is incomplete or conflicting, and there is no clear answer.
How comfortable are you with the ambiguity, rather than needing a definitive conclusion?
1 Strongly Disagree / Never
2 Disagree / Rarely
3 Neutral / Sometimes
4 Agree / Often
5 Strongly Agree / Always

Brain System Activation Assessment

For each context, select which brain system tends to dominate your response:

1.
When consuming breaking news:
Quick, instinctual reaction
Reptilian Brain
Feeling-based response
Emotional Brain
Analytical, measured approach
Rational Brain
2.
During social media engagement:
Quick, instinctual reaction
Reptilian Brain
Feeling-based response
Emotional Brain
Analytical, measured approach
Rational Brain
3.
When consuming political information:
Quick, instinctual reaction
Reptilian Brain
Feeling-based response
Emotional Brain
Analytical, measured approach
Rational Brain
4.
When receiving personal criticism:
Quick, instinctual reaction
Reptilian Brain
Feeling-based response
Emotional Brain
Analytical, measured approach
Rational Brain
5.
When making financial decisions:
Quick, instinctual reaction
Reptilian Brain
Feeling-based response
Emotional Brain
Analytical, measured approach
Rational Brain
0

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This