Post a 250-word response that explains the best perspective through which to define quality of life in a city. Choose from the following perspectives:

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  • IDST 2050C: Interdisciplinary Experience: Sustaining Quality of Life in the City
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Week 1: What Is Quality of Life?

Many people show pride of place, or pride in where they live, through symbols of their hometown, such as a baseball cap or t-shirt, or simply through their attitude. You might also recognize some people from Chicago by their accent, or people from Quebec City because they choose to speak French in predominantly English-speaking Canada.

What may not be so apparent is the reason why humans settle where they do—and why they stay there. You may learn that a woman you met on a plane lives in São Paulo, Brazil because of her job, or because her family settled there 20 years ago. However, what made the original inhabitants settle in Brazil centuries ago, and do those reasons, centuries old, still resonate today?

This week, you begin examining how Interdisciplinary Studies relates to quality of life in a city by considering what defines a city, how Interdisciplinary Studies can contribute to that definition, and how cities began.

Learning Objectives

Students will:
  • Analyze perspectives for defining quality of life in a city
  • Analyze sources relevant to quality of life in a city

Photo Credit: Caiaimage/Robert Daly / OJO+ / Getty Images

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Kotkin, J. (2005). Cities: Places sacred, safe, and busy. The Next American City, (8), 19–22.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Joel Kotkin, a well-known author in urban studies and related areas, writes about the characteristics that make cities important.

Montgomery, C. (2013, November 1). The secrets of the world’s happiest cities. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/01/secrets-worlds-happiest-cities-commute-property-prices

Document: Final Project Summary (PDF)

Document: Student Contributed Resource Worksheet (Word document)

Student Contributed Resources

In this course, you contribute resources to the overall course dialogue. This week, you will complete an exercise for the Assignment that focuses on finding a quality article in the Walden Library or from another reputable source.

  • Download the “Student Contributed Resource Worksheet” document from this week’s Learning Resources. This worksheet will help guide you in seeking resources to complete this week’s Assignment.
  • Find one article about quality of life in a specific city or in cities generally.
  • Complete the Week 1 Assignment.

Author and Source Suggestions

You are not required to find work from these authors or sources, although you may use them. You may also find that these authors or sources lead to others in the field.

  • Richard Florida
  • Joel Kotkin
  • The Guardian. (2015). Cities. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/cities
  • CITYLAB. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.citylab.com/
  • Numbeo. (2015). Quality of life index 2015. Retrieved from http://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings.jsp
Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.-d). Interdisciplinary perspectives in urban studies [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note:  The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.

In this video segment, urban studies practitioners and scholars discuss the inherent interdisciplinarity of the field.

Optional Resources

Jacobs, J. (1992). The death and life of great American cities (Modern Library ed.). New York, NY: Random House.

This classic work in urban studies, originally published in 1961, focuses on Jane Jacobs’ Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York City as a model, thriving urban area. It is a reference point for many authors who write about urban issues today. You may find ideas from this book referred to in your course reading and in articles that you find.

Discussion: Quality of Life: Perspectives

The word city conjures up many images, drawn from personal experience and perhaps influenced by characterizations in film, literature, or other cultural expressions. Your expectation for how life should be lived may also come from multiple perspectives. Do citizens refer to a nostalgic past? Were things really better in the past? Is the economy attracting new residents? How is the city adjusting to the influx? In this Discussion, you define quality of life in a citythrough a particular perspective.

To prepare for this Discussion:Your expectation for how life should be lived may also come from multiple perspectives. Do citizens refer to a nostalgic past?

  • Read “The Secrets of the World’s Happiest Cities” and “Cities: Places Sacred, Safe, and Busy,” located in this week’s Resources area.
  • View the media in this week’s Resources area, Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Urban Studies.
By Day 3

Post a 250-word response that explains the best perspective through which to define quality of life in a city. Choose from the following perspectives:

  • Commerce
  • Public Health
  • Culture/Religion
  • History

In your post, be sure to:

  • Use the place you live to provide real-life examples of how quality of life can be measured.
  • Refer to one specific example from your course reading.

Note: Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to the week’s Learning Resources or something you have read, heard, seen, or experienced

What is done here is that the government installs a monitoring software to track what the offenders do on his computer. I would not argue if this type of probation is given to sex offenders after they have served their time in prison. 

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Complete this week’s Practice Activity.

Matching exercises give you an opportunity to practice definitions and develop logical and critical thinking skills. By using such techniques as inversion, diversion, and the process of elimination, you are able to greatly increase the probability of answering questions correctly. This is an important skill to have, as it is commonly found on nearly all standardized tests and increases critical thinking.

The objective of this exercise is to understand restitution, parole, mandatory release, and parole.

Unit 9 Practice Activity

Review the details of the Coatesville Fires.

Complete the Unit 9 Assignment Worksheet: The Coatesville Fires Case.

Directions for Submitting Your Assignment

Save your Assignment in the following format: Last name First name Assignment. (Example: SmithJohn_Unit9_Assignment).

Submit your Assignment to the Unit 9 Assignment Dropbox by the end of Unit 9.

respond to class mate Karen:

Probation is a type of sentence given to offenders to serve in their community rather than spending time in jail. Offenders given probation can either be supervised, unsupervised, community-control, shock probation, and crime-specific types (McKenna, 2018) and acquire certain conditions the offender must abide by.

Probation should only be given to those who have committed petty crimes such as vandalism, possession of marijuana (very small amount), drunk driving if it’s their first time breaking the law. An individual who has been charged with sexual assault, molestation, or murder should not be given probation as they pose a threat to society. Although, McKenna (2018) states that crime-specific types probation may be given to sex offenders. What is done here is that the government installs a monitoring software to track what the offenders do on his computer. I would not argue if this type of probation is given to sex offenders after they have served their time in prison.

Thinking back at one of our seminars where we discussed how probation or parole can come in conflict with the jobs individuals hold because probation may require you to show up in a specific time that you start work causing the individual to lose his job. If I were a probation officer, I would want copies of the client’s work schedule so that he is able to do both (if probation officers can do that). The goal is for the offender to not offend again and we should not pose another obstacle in their path to do better. I would also want to check on them regularly (as a pop-up), proof of what they are doing to turn their lives around, provide them with counseling, and ask my permission when they want to leave their county. For me, these conditions are important to bring safety to society and help reinstate offenders into society as a functional citizen (unknown author, 2013).

McKenna, K. (2018). What types of probation are there? Retrieved from https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/what-types-of-probation-are-there.html

N/A, (2013). The importance of probation for achieving community safety. Retrieved from https://www.probationofficeredu.org/2013/06/the-importance-of-probation-for-achieving-community-safety/

respond to susan:

According to Schmalleger (2017) probation is “A sentence of imprisonment that is suspended. Also, the conditional freedom granted by a judicial officer to a convicted offender, as long as the person meets certain conditions of behavior.” When someone who has been found guilty Is being sentenced they can be given probation. This is a set number of years that they have to report to a probation officer and follow a set of rules given. Some of these rules are things like no drinking, no drugs, and no leaving the state. Probation can also be given to serve after a sentence. So, someone can get 3 years jail time and 3 years’ probation. The probation starts once they are released. The federal government no longer has probation it is now called supervised release. The difference is probation you have an officer that supervises you and it is up to them if they want to report a violation to the court. Supervised release also has an officer, but everything has to be reported to the courts. I personally had t serve 3 years supervised release and it was no fun at all. I personally think that setting guidelines depends on each person’s crime. The courts actually set the guidelines but if given the opportunity the main ones would be no drugs, no excessive drinking, and they must report when scheduled. These main ones will help with tracking each convict and hoefully keep them out of trouble.

Schmalleger, F. (2017). Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century, 14th Edition. [Purdue University Global Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://purdueuniversityglobal.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134145648/

Describe what to do in   the event that someone expresses suicidal thoughts or intentions, including   resources available

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You have two friends who have been struggling with exams in their classes. They can’t figure out what they are doing wrong, so they approach you for advice. In talking with your friends, you learn:

  1. Both of them are studying in one big cram session the evening before the exam.  They’re just not motivated to put in more time.
  2. They primarily study by just reread­ing notes and the chapters.
  3. One of your friends is only 17 and she checks her phone about every 2 minutes for text messages or social media updates.
  4. Your other friend is returning to college after some time away and is 65 years old.  She finds it easy to recognize some information when asked a fill-in-the-blank question, but it is much harder if she has to define a vocabulary word or answer an essay.

The good news is that you are enrolled in a psychology class that can help both your friends improve their study habits and results on the exam.

As you prepare to help your friends, here are some specific topics to address.

  1. From Chapter 1, what part of the brain is responsible for remembering the important information that will be on the exam?  Describe that part of the brain and its purpose.
  2. As covered in Chapter 4, psychologists have determined that age can effect cognitive development and memory.
  3. For your friend who is 17, how could you use what you have learned about moral development to explain why she may be checking her phone every 2 minutes for text messages and social media updates.   How could she expand her attention?
  4. For your friend is age 65, and having a hard time with vocabulary, explain what may be happening that prevents her from doing well on this type of activity.  How could she improve?
  5. In chapter 6, we learn about operant conditioning.  Describe operant conditioning in your own words.  Thinking of operant conditioning, how could you help your friend use rewards as motivation to study more often?
  6. Using what we have learned in chapter 7, explain why your memory may not retain all the information learned in the cram session the night before the big exam.
  7. How would cramming effect encoding?
  8. How would cramming effect retrieval?
  9. What is one technique that each friend could use to help improve memory and prepare for the exam?
  10. It’s the night before the big exam.  You check on your friends and your younger friend is not doing well.  It turns out that things have turned out even worse.  Her boyfriend broke up with her, stole money from her bank account, and her grandmother passed away the week before.  You notice on her Facebook page that she posed, “Where can I find some rope?!?”
  11. In chapter 5, you learn about suicide and what to do.  Based on that, what steps can you take to help your friend?  Be sure to include any resources that you could call to get advice.

Grading Rubric

 

Criteria

Exemplary
100%

 

1. Identify and described   the part of the brain responsible for memory.

Weight: 10%

Thoroughly identified the   parts of the brain responsible for memory

 

2. Explained the   connection between moral development and attention span; offered suggestions   to improve attention.

Weight: 10%

Thoroughly explained the connection between moral development   and attention span; thoroughly offered suggestions to improve attention

 

3. Discuss the effect of   aging on the brain, including suggestions to help improve studying and brain   function.

Weight: 10%

Thoroughly discussed the effect of aging on the brain, including   suggestions to help improve studying and brain function

 

4.  Discussed operant conditioning and offered a   recommendation for how rewards can be used to increase motivation.

Weight 20%

Thoroughly discussed operant conditioning and offered a   recommendation for how rewards can be used to increase motivation.

 

5. Discussed how cramming affects memory (encoding and   retrieval) and offered a suggestion to improve memory

Weight 20%

Thoroughly discussed how cramming affects memory (encoding and   retrieval) and offered a suggestion to improve memory

 

6. Describe what to do in   the event that someone expresses suicidal thoughts or intentions, including   resources available

Weight: 20%

Thoroughly described what   to do in the event that someone expresses suicidal thoughts or intentions,   including resources available

 

7. Writing / Support for   ideas

Weight: 5%

Consistently uses explanations, examples, and evidence that   logically support ideas.

 

8. Writing / Grammar and   mechanics

Weight: 5%

Free of errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

    Imagine that you are being treated for a social phobia. Your therapist watches you act out a social scene, points out what you did correctly and incorrectly, and praises you for what you did well. Which behavioral technique did your therapist NOT use?

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Question 1

 

 

“Your worries? They’re only thoughts. Don’t try to stop them, but recognize that they’re thoughts, and don’t let them upset you so much.” This quote most likely would come from someone using which form of therapy for generalized anxiety disorder?

Answer

A.

biofeedback

B.

rational-emotive therapy

C.

mindfulness-based cognitive therapy

D.

intolerance of uncertainty therapy

 

1 points

Question 2

 

 

A person who believes that it is awful and catastrophic when things are not the way he or she would like them to be is displaying:

Answer

A.

compulsion.

B.

irrational assumption.

C.

condition of worth.

D.

metaworry.

 

1 points

Question 3

 

 

According to behavioral theory, specific learned fears become a generalized anxiety disorder through the process of:

Answer

A.

modeling.

B.

stimulus generalization.

C.

response prevention.

D.

stimulus discrimination.

 

1 points

Question 4

 

 

Exposure and response prevention as treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder:

Answer

A.

does not work as well for those who have obsessions but no compulsions.

B.

is only effective in a group setting.

C.

works only in about 25% of those who are treated with it.

D.

changes behavior in the clinic, but doesn’t carry over to home and the workplace.

 

1 points

Question 5

 

 

Cognitive theorists have found that people who develop obsessive-compulsive disorder also:

Answer

A.

have a lower rate of depression.

B.

believe their thoughts are capable of causing harm to themselves or others.

C.

have lower standards of conduct and morality.

D.

believe it is impossible and undesirable to have control over everything.

 

1 points

Question 6

 

 

An obsessive-compulsive person who was told that everyone was required to wear shoes at all times in the house and not to vacuum for a week, would be experiencing what therapy procedures?

Answer

A.

family therapy

B.

free association

C.

reinforcement for compulsive behavior

D.

exposure and response prevention

 

1 points

Question 7

 

 

According to cognitive theorists, people experiencing anxiety sensitivity:

Answer

A.

are unable to assess bodily sensations accurately.

B.

interpret bodily sensations as abnormally pleasant.

C.

confuse physical and emotional sensations.

D.

are oblivious to body sensations.

 

1 points

Question 8

 

 

Jose and Ted both get racing hearts once in a while. When it happens to Ted, he panics and thinks he is going to die. Gradually, he has developed these panic attacks if he even thinks that his heart is beating strongly. When Jose’s heart starts beating strongly, he looks to his current activity to understand what is producing the sensations (hard work). Ted apparently has a high degree of:

Answer

A.

anxiety sensitivity.

B.

fear.

C.

obsessive imagery.

D.

anxiety.

 

1 points

Question 9

 

 

Imagine that you are being treated for a social phobia. Your therapist watches you act out a social scene, points out what you did correctly and incorrectly, and praises you for what you did well. Which behavioral technique did your therapist NOT use?

Answer

A.

role play

B.

reinforcement

C.

modeling

D.

feedback

 

1 points

Question 10

 

 

If the final version of DSM-5 follows the recommendations that have been made about the categorization of anxiety disorders:

Answer

A.

there will no longer be a category of anxiety disorders.

B.

anxiety disorders will be subsumed under depressive disorders due to the recognition of the effectiveness of antidepressants in treating anxiety.

C.

social phobia will be recognized as a more pervasive disorder—social anxiety disorder.

D.

obsessive-compulsive disorders will be categorized as cognitive disorders.

 

1 points

Question 11

 

 

Generalized anxiety disorder is more common:

Answer

A.

in men than in women.

B.

in African-Americans than in white Americans.

C.

years after rather than immediately after traumatic events.

D.

in wealthy people than in poor people.

 

1 points

Question 12

 

 

Sally is never sure of the right thing to do. She married Tod and has been wondering for years if that was the right thing to do. She is exhibiting:

Answer

A.

obsessive doubts.

B.

obsessive images.

C.

a compulsion.

D.

obsessive ideas.

 

1 points

Question 13

 

 

People who have a biological vulnerability for anxiety that is brought to the surface by social/psychological factors develop generalized anxiety disorders, according to the:

Answer

A.

diathesis-stress model.

B.

psychodynamic model.

C.

cognitive-behavioral model.

D.

evolutionary perspective.

 

1 points

Question 14

 

 

One limitation of the sociocultural approach to understanding generalized anxiety disorders is that it cannot explain:

Answer

A.

the paradox that as poverty gets worse, generalized anxiety declines.

B.

why everyone who experiences danger doesn’t experience generalized anxiety.

C.

the relationship between race, poverty, and job opportunity.

D.

the differences in generalized anxiety in countries around the world.

 

Question 15

 

 

Leila always feels threatened and anxious—imagining something awful is about to happen. But she is able to work and care for her family, although not as well as she would like. Leila is probably experiencing:

Answer

A.

no specific problem; she just likes to worry.

B.

a specific fear response.

C.

a hormonal imbalance.

D.

a generalized anxiety disorder.

 

1 points

Question 16

 

 

What is one important way obsessions and compulsions are related?

Answer

A.

Obsessions are not related to compulsions.

B.

Compulsions are a way to prevent obsessions from occurring.

C.

Compulsions help people control their obsessions.

D.

Obsessions generally lead to violent or immoral compulsions.

 

1 points

Question 17

 

 

The most common mental disorders in the United States are the:

Answer

A.

anxiety disorders.

B.

sexual disorders.

C.

personality disorders.

D.

mood disorders.

 

1 points

Question 18

 

 

Teaching people to accept their worries and live in the present moment—mindfulness therapy—is MOST consistent with which theoretical approach?

Answer

A.

cognitive

B.

psychodynamic

C.

behavioral

D.

biological

 

1 points

Question 19

 

 

You notice someone who is sweating, experiencing shortness of breath, choking, feeling dizzy, and is afraid of dying. If it is not a heart attack but an indicator of anxiety disorder, it is probably a:

Answer

A.

phobia.

B.

panic attack.

C.

obsessive-compulsive response.

D.

posttraumatic disorder.

 

1 points

Question 20

 

 

Your fear of spiders is debilitating because you are an entomologist. To treat this phobia, your therapist puts you in a room with spiders, even asking you to handle them. This technique might be used in:

Answer

A.

covert desensitization.

B.

systematic desensitization.

C.

flooding.

D.

modeling.