scholarly journals Ethnic Differences in Environmental Restoration: Arab and Jewish Women in Israel

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (23) ◽  
pp. 12628
Author(s):  
Diana Saadi ◽  
Izhak Schnell ◽  
Emanuel Tirosh
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Central City ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Jewish Women ◽  
Cognitive Response ◽  
Restorative Environments ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Social Discomfort ◽  
Intervening Variables

Throughout the last few decades, plenty of attention has been paid to restorative environments that positively affect human psychological health. These studies show that restorative environments affect human beings emotionally, physiologically, and cognitively. Some studies focus on the cognitive effects of exposure to restorative environments. A widely used index that measures the cognitive response is the Perceived Restoration Potential Scale (PRS). Most studies employing the PRS have examined differences in human cognitive response between types of urban environments mainly urban versus green ones. We use Hartig’s questionnaire to expose differences between types of urban environments and ethnic groups. Variances between Arab and Jewish women were calculated in four environments: home; park; residential and central city environments. The effect of intervening variables such as exposure to thermal, noise, social and CO loads and social discomfort were tested. We find that dissimilar to urban typical built-up environments, green areas are highly restorative. Furthermore, differences in the restorativeness of different urban environments are low though significant. These differences depend on their function, aesthetic qualities, and amount of greenery. Ethno-national differences appear to affect the experience of restoration. While both ethnic related groups experienced a tremendous sense of restoration in parks, Jewish women enjoyed slightly higher levels of restoration mainly at home and in residential environments compared to Arab women who experienced higher sense of restorativness in central city environments. Jewish women experienced higher sense of being away and fascination. From the intervening variables, social discomfort explained 68 percent of the experience of restoration, noise explained 49 percent, thermal load explained 43 percent and ethnicity 14 percent of the variance in PRS.

Motivation, Personality, and Development Within Embedded Social Contexts: An Overview of Self-Determination Theory

2012 ◽  
pp. 84-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Deci ◽  
Richard M. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Autonomous Motivation ◽  
Self Determination Theory ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Need Satisfaction ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Human Beings

Self-determination theory maintains and has provided empirical support for the proposition that all human beings have fundamental psychological needs to be competent, autonomous, and related to others. Satisfaction of these basic needs facilitates people's autonomous motivation (i.e., acting with a sense of full endorsement and volition), whereas thwarting the needs promotes controlled motivation (i.e., feeling pressured to behave in particular ways) or being amotivated (i.e., lacking intentionality). Satisfying these basic needs and acting autonomously have been consistently shown to be associated with psychological health and effective performance. Social contexts within which people operate, however proximal (e.g., a family or workgroup) or distal (e.g., a cultural value or economic system), affect their need satisfaction and type of motivation, thus affecting their wellness and effectiveness. Social contexts also affect whether people's life goals or aspirations tend to be more intrinsic or more extrinsic, and that in turn affects important life outcomes.

scholarly journals The impact of social and human capital on individual cooperative behaviour

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-29
Author(s):  
Gjalt De Jong
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Strategic Change ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Cooperative Behaviour ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Differences ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to analyse whether, and if so, how, personal background and intellectual assets determine individual cooperation. Design/methodology/approach – The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether, and if so, how, social and human capital determine cooperation. Findings – The empirical results show that variations in human and social capital offer a substantial explanation for the likelihood of cooperative behaviour in people involved in social dilemma situations. Research limitations/implications – Testing the model in an international setting with non-student subjects (managers, policymakers) would allow us to explore the consequences of cross-national differences in various forms of capital. Practical implications – Successful implementation of strategic change requires leaders who are able to effectively communicate and motivate employees. The study highlights what factors makes some leaders more cooperative and, hence, potentially more successful in supervising corporate change than others. Social implications – For sustainable growth, countries need leaders who are willing and able to collaborate not only with other international leaders but also within their public administration. This paper offers explanations why some political leaders more than others are able to successfully collaborate with their political opponents. Originality/value – The added value of mainstream economics to understand key elements of international business is limited due to their stringent behavioural assumptions. The research is original in that it shows that individuals make decisions not like rational machines but like real human beings.

scholarly journals The Living Barrier: Residential architecture acting as a noise barrier near railway corridors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jonathan Lim
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Residential Architecture ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Noise Barrier ◽  
Acoustic Environments

<p>As urban regions increase in population and density, the need for quietness and spaces of relative calm becomes important to inhabitants’ physiological and psychological health and wellbeing. Noises, and the sounds that create them, are treated as a by-product of urban densification and the advancement of technology. This led to uncontrolled and incidental acoustic environments around notable points of urban densification. Each sound adds together in the acoustic environment to create a composition that is labelled collectively as noise. Those in the professions of planning and designing these urban environments have a responsibility to become the composers of the grand aural experience that is the worldly soundscape.  In response to this design problem, this portfolio explored how architecture can be designed to enable this sustainable densification of noisy urban environments. It proposed the incorporation of psychoacoustics and R. Murray Schafer’s soundscape philosophy (and ongoing related research) into acoustic design. By understanding the complex creation of the aural experience, this portfolio investigated whether the key to living healthily and sustainably in an inevitably sound-filled urban environment laid in the design of soundscape as a perceptual construct.  The investigation translated relevant literature into broad explorations of soundscape design elements at a variety of architectural scales. Using soundscape principles in a design process produced a strong architectural proposition that could solve both densification and acoustic problems. This had widespread and profound implications on architectural design practices. The portfolio therefore prompts further explorations into soundscape design for other architectural problems and applications.</p>

scholarly journals When Acute Adversity Improves Psychological Health: A Social-Contextual Framework

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D Mancini
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Psychological Functioning ◽  
Response Pattern ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Mass Trauma ◽  
Contextual Framework ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Psychological Improvement ◽  
Affiliative Behaviors ◽  
Different Levels

Human beings are routinely exposed to varying forms of acute adversity. Our responses take varying forms too, ranging from chronic distress to resilience. Although this pronounced variability is widely recognized, one possible outcome of acute adversity has been invariably, though understandably, ignored: an improvement in psychological and social functioning. In this analysis, I argue that, under some conditions, people can experience marked psychological improvement after acute adversity. I describe this response pattern as psychosocial gains from adversity (PGA) and define it as favorable and reliable change on an objective index of psychological functioning from before to after exposure to adversity. In the present article, I first distinguish PGA from traditional perspectives on growth after adversity on the basis of key conceptual differences. I then review empirical evidence for PGA as a replicable response pattern following different forms of adversity, including bereavement, military deployment, and mass trauma. I propose a multi-level theoretical model for PGA that focuses on automatic prosocial affiliative behaviors and group-level contextual factors that are conditioned by acute adversity. I describe moderators and boundary conditions at different levels of analysis that will enhance or detract from the likelihood of PGA. I conclude with the implications of PGA for theory and empirical research on post-adversity outcomes and outline a research agenda to better understand it.

scholarly journals Documentary and ecosemiotics: Frames and faces in the work of Johan van der Keuken

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 186-208
Author(s):  
Hing Tsang
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Coastal Area ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
The Relationship

This article argues that the work of the late Johan van der Keuken offers a contribution to ecological semiotics, and that it also defines the relationship between the semiotic animal and nature in ways that avoid glottocentricism. Taking from the recent work of Kalevi Kull, Jesper Hoffmeyer, and John Deely amongst others, I will argue that van der Keuken’s documentaries offer a view of ecology that is broader than a study of bio-physical processes that might reduce ecology to a narrow political issue.In order to support this argument, I will be looking at two contrasting films from van der Keuken – Flat Jungle (1978) and Face Value (1991). The first film examines natural habitats within a confined coastal area in Western Europe, while the second film looks at human beings in the different urban environments of late-20th-century Europe. I will then argue that van der Keuken does not collapse the vital distinctions between umwelt and Lebenswelt, yet his films also succeed at reminding us of their constant interdependence.

scholarly journals Welcome to the machine! The representation of technology in Zeitopern

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Mehring
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
New Objectivity ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
New Research

Condemned as degenerate art during the Third Reich, German Zeitopern and their artistic treatment of technological infiltration during die Weimar Republic have sparked a variety of new research projects, world-wide musical performances and CD releases from Decca/London in a continuing series entitled ‘Entartete Kunst.’ Manifestos were written in response to the penetration of technology into nearly every aspect of human life, envisaging a future where human beings would interact organically with their new urban environments. Expressionism, Americanism and the concept of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) symbolized fresh driving forces that emerged most visibly in opera. In contrast to pre-war Romanticism and Wagnerian mythology, the ‘New Objectivity’ demonstrated a radical commitment to the modern environment, focusing on visible, objective reality rather dian on the emotions of the artist. Particularly in Zeitopern, composers like Max Brand, Paul Hindemith, and Ernst Krenek embraced contemporary ideas of progress, new technological inventions, modern electronic communication systems and means of transportation as props, story topics and artistic vehicles to introduce new sound-effects. In several instances modern technology appeared as simply anodier stage-prop in die long history of opera stage design. In die context of European conceptions of Americanism, technology was pardy understood as a threat to the establishment's reverence for Romantic high culture. And yet in many instances it was also a welcome tool in the project of redirecting all the arts from their stagnant, inflexible pasts to modern, progressive forms of contemporary entertainment. Such diverse attitudes to the potent symbolism of the machine indicate a conflict inherent in aesthetic practice at the time and raise fundamental questions. Do composers successfully represent human beings as creative and autonomous individuals while simultaneously introducing technological images of dominance and depersonalization? If there are contradictory aspects in the representation of technology, how do they relate to the various aesthetic views of the 1920s? Max Brand's central work and acclaimed prototype of Zeitopern, Maschinist Hopkins (1928), brings the world of technology and its sophisticated artifacts to the musical stage. A close analysis reveals basic contradictions, symptomatic of the era, in the composer's embrace of modern technology.

Are Travel Times and Distances to Work Greater for Residents of Poor Urban Neighborhoods?

2000 ◽  
Vol 1718 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asad J. Khattak ◽  
Virginie J. Amerlynck ◽  
Roberto G. Quercia
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Central City ◽  
Urban Neighborhoods ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
The People ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Undue Burden ◽  
Personal Transportation ◽  
Commuting Patterns ◽  
Analysis Models

The commuting patterns of low-income urban residents are discussed. On the basis of the spatial mismatch hypothesis, the question of whether central city low-income residents face an undue burden of commuting cost (time and distance) to work compared with the rest of the population is examined. Data from the 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey were used in the analysis. Models explaining travel time and distance to work are combined with a model explaining the probability of being employed on the basis of individual and neighborhood characteristics, thus correcting for sample selectivity. In general, it was found that urban residents are less likely to work than their suburban counterparts. Among the people who work, residents of low-income urban neighborhoods commute longer and farther than residents of low-income suburban neighborhoods. The average differences for the residents of the lowest-income neighborhoods are only 6 min and 2 mi (3 km). On the basis of the value of time, it is concluded that these national differences are not too large. The undue commute burden faced by residents of low-income neighborhoods may be shown to be a greater problem in some metropolitan areas than in others, suggesting further research at the metropolitan or regional level.

scholarly journals Brain functional connectivity differs when viewing pictures from natural and built environments using fMRI resting state analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Kühn ◽  
Caroline Garcia Forlim ◽  
Anja Lender ◽  
Janina Wirtz ◽  
Jürgen Gallinat
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Dorsal Attention Network ◽  
Brain Functional Connectivity

AbstractHuman beings evolved in “natural” environments. Many intervention studies have shown that exposure to natural environments (compared to built/urban environments) reduces stress and increases cognitive functioning. We set out to test differences in fMRI functional connectivity while showing participants photographs from natural versus built environments (matched in terms of scenicness ratings). No differences in self-reported perceived stress, rumination, valence, arousal or dominance were observed. However, functional connectivity was significantly higher when participants saw natural rather than built environmental photographs in circuits consisting of dorsal attention network (DAN) and ventral attention network (VAN), DAN and default mode network (DMN) and DMN and Somatomotor connections. In addition, we observed lower functional connectivity during the natural environment condition correlated with more years that individuals spent in major cities during upbringing. Future studies, linking changes in cognitive functioning due to nature exposure and alterations in functional connectivity, are warranted.

Eupsychian Management: Spirit of the Good in Humanity and Society

2021 ◽  
pp. 002216782110027
Author(s):  
Alan Briskin
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Global Competition ◽  
Continuous Learning ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Cost Efficiencies ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Non Linear Systems

Eupsychian management was Abraham Maslow’s term for workplaces of creativity, synergy, and continuous learning. His ideas were crystalized while visiting Non-Linear Systems, founded by Andrew Kay. Eupsychian management, a phrase congruent yet distinct from utopian concepts, specifically referred to environments designed for improving the self-fulfillment and psychological health of all its members. Maslow astutely observed that the characteristics of such environments were its general atmosphere for creative pursuit rather than a specific policy or practice. With retrospective hindsight, Maslow’s managerial ideas, once visionary in nature, have been largely integrated into mainstream management theory and practice. However, his desire for less competitive, controlling, and hierarchical workplaces has been frustrated by ever-increasing global competition, fragmentation, and pressure for cost-efficiencies. The lasting impact of Eupsychian ideals may lie in its humanistic clarity. Human beings long for meaning, purpose, and contribution to a more just and regenerative world. The workplace cannot succeed as an island of psychological health separate from broader efforts to bring forth social justice and environmental renewal.

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