Questionss for Critical Thinking Chapters 13 and 14:

Chapter 13 Question 3: I think that everyday life in the United States of America in 2025 will be

different based on whether an individual is occupying a city, suburb, or rural area. Cities will

become extremely populated and problems will arise when any infrastructure becomes

overcrowded. There will be increases in crime, violence, etc. Thus, in cities, the quality of life

will decrease quite rapidly as they will not be able to handle the increased load that new

occupants will place. Suburbs and rural areas will continue to maintain their quality of life as

there will be a lot more room for the populations of these areas. However, I think that suburbs

may also experience some level of excess population but it will not be nearly as pronounced as

cities. Personally, I would prefer to live in a suburb so I can enjoy a fairly high quality of living

while still being able to reap the benefits that being close to a city offers. My answer

demonstrates that US cities will become quite overpopulated in the future.

Chapter 14 Question 2: In my opinion, I believe that the contagion theory best explains crowed

behavior. The contagion theory is based around the theory that the crowd takes on a life of its

own as people are transformed from rational beings into part of an organism that acts on its own.

I have personally seen this happen many times around the world. People lose their own personal

inhibitions and just “do”. This is also explained in psychology as one of the phenomenon that

occurs in large groups of people. Examples of this occur when in soccer games in Europe,

crowds will often fight the other team’s supporters. Individually, people would not take such

actions, but when in a group they lose all rational thoughts and just act.