Vulnerability refers to the inability (of a system or a unit) to withstand the effects of a hostile environment. A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, compromised or lacking.
The understanding of social and environmental vulnerability, as a methodological approach, involves the analysis of the risks and assets of disadvantaged groups, such as the elderly. The approach of vulnerability in itself brings great expectations of social policy and gerontological planning.
In relation to hazards and disasters, vulnerability is a concept that links the relationship that people have with their environment to social forces and institutions and the cultural values that sustain and contest them. “The concept of vulnerability expresses the multi-dimensionality of disasters by focusing attention on the totality of relationships in a given social situation which constitute a condition that, in combination with environmental forces, produces a disaster”.
It is also the extent to which changes could harm a system, or to which the community can be affected by the impact of a hazard or exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally: "we were in a vulnerable position".
Within the body of literature related to vulnerability, major research streams include questions of methodology, such as: measuring and assessing vulnerability, including finding appropriate indicators for various aspects of vulnerability, up- and down scaling methods, and participatory methods. Vulnerability research covers a complex, multidisciplinary field including development and poverty studies, public health, climate studies, security studies, engineering, geography, political ecology, and disaster risk management . This research is of importance and interest for organizations trying to reduce vulnerability – especially as related to poverty and other Millennium Development Goals. Many institutions are conducting interdisciplinary research on vulnerability. A forum that brings many of the current researchers on vulnerability together is the Expert Working Group (EWG). Researchers are currently working to refine definitions of “vulnerability”, measurement and assessment methods, and effective communication of research to decision makers.
In its sense, social vulnerability is one dimension of vulnerability to multiple stressors (agent responsible for stress) and shocks, including abuse, social exclusion and natural hazards. Social vulnerability refers to the inability of people, organizations, and societies to withstand adverse impacts from multiple stressors to which they are exposed. These impacts are due in part to characteristics inherent in social interactions, institutions, and systems of cultural values.
A cognitive vulnerability, in cognitive psychology, is an erroneous belief, cognitive bias, or pattern of thought that is believed to predispose the individual to psychological problems. It is in place before the symptoms of psychological disorders start to appear, such as high neuroticism, and after the individual encounters a stressful experience, the cognitive vulnerability shapes a maladaptive response that may lead to a psychological disorder. In psychopathology, cognitive vulnerability is constructed from schema models, hopelessness models, and attachment theory. Attentional bias is one mechanism leading to faulty cognitive bias that leads to cognitive vulnerability. Allocating a danger level to a threat depends on the urgency or intensity of the threshold. Anxiety is not associated with selective orientation.
In military terminology, vulnerability is a subset of survivability, the others being susceptibility and recoverability. Vulnerability is defined in various ways depending on the nation and service arm concerned, but in general it refers to the near-instantaneous effects of a weapon attack. In aviation it is defined as the inability of an aircraft to withstand the damage caused by the man-made hostile environment. In some definitions, recoverability (damage control, firefighting, restoration of capability) is included in vulnerability. Some military services develop their own concept of vulnerability.
Invulnerability is a common feature found in science fiction and fantasy, in particular in superhero fiction, as depicted commonly in novels, comic books and video games. In such stories, it is a quality that makes a character impervious to pain, damage or loss of health.
In video games, it can be found in the form of "power-ups" or cheats; when activated via cheats, it is often referred to as "god mode". Generally, it does not protect the player from certain instant-death hazards, most notably "bottomless" pits from which, even if the player were to survive the fall, they would be unable to escape. As a rule, invulnerability granted by power-ups is temporary, and wears off after a set amount of time, while invulnerability cheats, once activated, remain in effect until deactivated, or the end of the level is reached. "Depending on the game in question, invulnerability to damage may or may not protect the player from non-damage effects, such as being immobilized or sent flying."
- The Ethereal (Aladdin: The Animated Series)
- Super Sonic (Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog)
- The Worst (Ben 10)
- Celestialsapiens (Ben 10)
- Alien X
- Ultimate Aggereor (Ben 10: Ultimate Alien)
- Ultimate Kevin (Ben 10: Ultimate Alien)
- Kevin 11 (Ben 10)
- Grandfather (Codename: Kids Next Door)
- Kryptonians (DC Comics); via yellow sun radiation
- Doomsday (DC Comics)
- Shazam (DC Comics)
- Icon (DC Comics)
- Black Adam (DC Comics)
- Marvel Family/Black Marvel family (DC Comics)
- Daxamites (DC Comics); via yellow sun radiation
- Lar Gand
- Darkseid (DC Comics)
- Mongul (DC Comics)
- Viltrumites (Image Comics)
- Mark Grayson/Invincible (Image Comics)
- Oliver Grayson
- Mr. Incredible (The Incredibles)
- Harumi (Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu); via the Oni Mask of Hatred
- Ultra Violet (Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu); via the Oni Mask of Hatred
- Hulk (Marvel Comics)
- Thanos (Marvel Comics)
- Silver Surfer (Marvel Comics)
- Cain Marko/Juggernaut (Marvel Comics)
- Thor Odinson (Marvel Comics)
- Odin Borson (Marvel Comics); via Odinforce
- Latonya Jefferson (Marvel Comics) formally
- Robert Reynolds/The Sentry (Marvel Comics)
- Amenhotep IV (Marvel Comics)
- America Chavez (Marvel Comics)
- Butterball (Marvel Comics)
- Paul Provenzano/Omerta (Marvel Comics)
- Emma Frost (Marvel Comics); via diamond form
- Luke Cage (Marvel Comics)
- Metro Man (Megamind)
- Kimura (Marvel Comics); via Density Control
- Cat Noir (Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir)
- Copy Cat (Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir)
- Ladybug (Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir)
- HIM (The Powerpuff Girls)
- Saint of Killers (Preacher)
- Hexadecimal (ReBoot)
- GigaByte (ReBoot)
- Daemon (ReBoot)
- Aku (Samurai Jack)
- The Tick (The Tick); described as "nigh-invulnerability"
- WordGirl (WordGirl)
- Mala Mala Jong (Xiaolin Showdown)
- Wuya (Xiaolin Showdown)
- Instructo-Bob (Yin Yang Yo!)
- Hellas (Aldnoah.Zero)
- Dioscuria (Aldnoah.Zero)
- Huanglongmon (Digimon)
- Xenovia (Highschool DxD); via The Scabbard of Excalibur
- Warp/Kaiba (Kaiba)
- Painman (Kinnikuman)
- Jack Rakan (Negima)
- Kaido (One Piece)
- Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece); against bullets and normal physical attacks
- Jozu (One Piece); via the Kira Kira no Mi
- Daz Bones/Mister 1 (One Piece)
- Logia Devil Fruit Eaters (One Piece)
- Powerful Busoshoku Haki users (One Piece)
- Tony Tony Chopper (One Piece); via Monster Point and Guard Point
- Saitama (One-Punch Man)
- Elie/Resha Valentine (Rave Master); by the Etherion
- Akua Shuzen (Rosario + Vampire)
- Greed (Fullmetal Alchemist)
- Shedinja (Pokémon); unless hit a super-effective move.
- Yaya (Unbreakable Machine-Doll)
- Arlo (unOrdinary)
- Escanor (The Seven Deadly Sins); as The One
- "KBpedia: Vulnerability Reference Concept". KBpedia. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
- Sanchez-Gonzalez, D.; Egea-Jimenez, C. (2011). "Social Vulnerability approach to investigate the social and environmental disadvantages. Its application in the study of elderly people". Pap. Poblac. 17 (69): 151–185.
- Sanchez-Gonzalez, D (2015). "Physical-social environments and aging population from environmental gerontology and geography. Socio-spatial implications in Latin America"". Revista de Geografía Norte Grande. 60 (60): 97–114. doi:10.4067/S0718-34022015000100006.
- Bankoff, Greg; et al. (2004). Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People. London: Earth scan.
- Villa-gran, Juan Carlos. "Vulnerability: A conceptual and methodological review." SOURCE. No. 2/2006. Bonn, Germany.
- Rumpf, Clemens M.; Lewis, Hugh G.; Atkinson, Peter M. (2017-03-27). "Population vulnerability models for asteroid impact risk assessment". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 52 (6): 1082–1102. arXiv:1702.05798. doi:10.1111/maps.12861. ISSN 1086-9379.
- "Promotion of Roma's access to Education [Social Impact]. WORKALÓ. The creation of new occupational patterns for cultural minorities: the Gypsy Case (2001-2004). Framework Programme 5 (FP5)". SIOR, Social Impact Open Repository.
- Birkmann, Joern (editor). 2006. Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards – Towards Disaster Resilient Societies. UNU Press.
- Wolters, M., Kuenzer, C., 2015: Vulnerability Assessments of Coastal River Deltas – Categorization and Review. Journal of Coastal Conservation, DOI 10.1007/s11852-015-0396-6
- Luis Flores Ballesteros. "What determines a disaster?" 54 Pesos May. 2008:54 Pesos 11 Sep 2008. http://54pesos.org/2008/09/11/what-determines-a-disaster/ Archived 2012-03-20 at the Wayback Machine
- See also Daniel R. Curtis, 'Pre-industrial societies and strategies for the exploitation of resources. A theoretical framework for understanding why some settlements are resilient and some settlements are vulnerable to crisis', https://www.academia.edu/1932627/Pre-industrial_societies_and_strategies_for_the_exploitation_of_resources._A_theoretical_framework_for_understanding_why_some_settlements_are_resilient_and_some_settlements_are_vulnerable_to_crisis
- Riskind, John H.; Black, David (2005). "Cognitive Vulnerability". In Freeman, Arthur; Felgoise, Stephanie H.; et al. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. New York: Springer. pp. 122–26. ISBN 9781429411738.
- Jeronimus B.F.; Kotov, R.; Riese, H.; Ormel, J. (2016). "Neuroticism's prospective association with mental disorders halves after adjustment for baseline symptoms and psychiatric history, but the adjusted association hardly decays with time: a meta-analysis on 59 longitudinal/prospective studies with 443 313 participants" (PDF). Psychological Medicine. 46 (14): 2883–2906. doi:10.1017/S0033291716001653. PMID 27523506.
- Ingram, Rick (February 2003). "Origins of Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression" (PDF). Cognitive Therapy and Research. 27 (1): 77–88. doi:10.1023/a:1022590730752. ISSN 0147-5916.
- Mathews, Andrew; MacLeod, Colin (1 April 2005). "Cognitive Vulnerability to Emotional Disorders". Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 1 (1): 167–195. doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143916. PMID 17716086.
- Ball, Robert (2003). The Fundamentals of Aircraft Combat Survivability Analysis and Design, 2nd Edition. AIAA Education Series. p. 603. ISBN 978-1-56347-582-5.
- Carlo, Kopp (5 July 2005). "Warship Vulnerability". ausairpower.net.
- Madigan, Michael L (2017). Handbook of Emergency Management Concepts: A Step-by-Step Approach. CRC Press. ISBN 1351337475.
- William Godwin (1876). "Lives of the Necromancers". p. 17.
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- Community based vulnerability mapping in Búzi, Mozambique (GIS and Remote Sensing)
- MunichRe Foundation
- Satellite Vulnerability
- Survivability/Lethality Analysis – US Army
- RESIST RESIST Vulnerability Assessment Code
- Top Computer Vulnerabilities
- United Nations University Institute of Environment and Human Security
- VULNERABILITY LABORATORY (Verified Vulnerability Research Project)
- Vulners vulnerability database with API