Neil Thin

University of Edinburgh, Social Anthropology, Faculty Member

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Outdoor Mobility and Promoting Physical Activity Among Older People

Outdoor physical activity (PA) is crucial for the health and wellbeing of older people. Evidence ... more Outdoor physical activity (PA) is crucial for the health and wellbeing of older people. Evidence suggests that various environmental factors might be relevant to facilitating or hindering outdoor PA in this age group. To promote a better appreciation of these factors, we propose interactionist (or ‘ecological’) approaches to understanding the dynamic interactions between mind, body, prosthetics, society, and physical environments. We also review the global demographic and technological trends that are changing the nature and importance of those interactions, leading to new opportunities for indoor simulation of some of the beneficial features of outdoor environments.

Mobility, mood and place

Mobility, Mood and Place: The A-Z of Co-Design: A Brief Introduction to Participatory Design

Mobility choices in older adults

The impact of walking in different urban environments on brain activity in older people

Cities & Health, 2019

Neurourbanism looks to understand the relationship between urban environments and mental well-bei... more Neurourbanism looks to understand the relationship between urban environments and mental well-being and is well placed to assess the role of these environments on the urbanised and ageing global population. This study builds on research using mobile electroencephalography (EEG) to understand the impact of urban environments (busy, quiet and green urban spaces) on brain activity. Ninety-five older participants aged over 65 years undertook one of six walks in an urban neighbourhood, transitioning between two distinct environmental settings. This study explores changes in alpha (associated with relaxation) and beta (associated with attention) brain activity recorded during walking in differing urban environments. Neural activity significantly varies as participants walk between urban busy and green settings, with reduced levels of low beta activity in the green setting, suggesting attention changes consistent with Attention Restoration Theory. Levels of alpha activity significantly varied between the urban busy and the urban quiet settings, with increases in the urban busy setting. There were no significant differences in EEG activity between the urban green and urban quiet settings, suggesting that the magnitude of environmental contrast between the urban busy context and other urban settings is an important factor in understanding the effects of these spaces on brain activity.

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Correction to: The Aging Urban Brain: Analyzing Outdoor Physical Activity Using the Emotiv Affectiv Suite in Older People

Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Jan 23, 2017

Please note that the legend to Fig. 1 has been modified since this article was originally publish... more

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The home as enabler of more active lifestyles among older people

Building Research & Information, 2015

Rwanda

Development Policy Review, 2003

The PRSP process has been given a prominent place in government business in Rwanda. Poverty incre... more The PRSP process has been given a prominent place in government business in Rwanda. Poverty increased dramatically in the years leading up to and following the 1994 genocide, so reducing poverty is seen as critical to establishing the credentials of the government. This article argues that a degree of optimism is justified regarding the prospects for the institutionalisation of the

Review of The Oxford Handbook of Happiness

International Journal of Wellbeing, 2013

International Security Management, 2020

Safety is normally understood as an 'avoidance' goal, the objective being to reduce risks and har... more Safety is normally understood as an 'avoidance' goal, the objective being to reduce risks and harms. Can it also be understood more positively, as an 'approach' goal? If so, what would that positive motivation entail, and what benefits might it bring? The world has never been safer, yet levels of stress and worry are increasing. Governments are spending heavily fighting crimes and hazards but in addition to that, we should focus on promoting aspects that make people feel safe. If the focus is on threats and crime, then the focus is on the absence of safety, not on the presence of feeling safe. And feeling unsafe is intrinsically bad even if that fear sometimes leads to sensible preventive action. Feeling safe, on the other hand, is intrinsically good. Sometimes it is instrumentally harmful to feel unrealistically safe. But, there is also some plausible evidence in support of the idea that we can make places safer by making people feel safer in them. We propose here a 'Positive Safety Lens' (PSL) as a complement to traditional 'avoidance' approaches to safety. We identify seven attributes of the PSL and discuss their potential benefits for safety research and safety promotion.

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The Aging Urban Brain: Analyzing Outdoor Physical Activity Using the Emotiv Affectiv Suite in Older People

Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Jan 11, 2017

This research directly assesses older people's neural activation in response to a changing ur... more This research directly assesses older people's neural activation in response to a changing urban environment while walking, as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). The study builds on previous research that shows changes in cortical activity while moving through different urban settings. The current study extends this methodology to explore previously unstudied outcomes in older people aged 65 years or more (n = 95). Participants were recruited to walk one of six scenarios pairing urban busy (a commercial street with traffic), urban quiet (a residential street) and urban green (a public park) spaces in a counterbalanced design, wearing a mobile Emotiv EEG headset to record real-time neural responses to place. Each walk lasted around 15 min and was undertaken at the pace of the participant. We report on the outputs for these responses derived from the Emotiv Affectiv Suite software, which creates emotional parameters ('excitement', 'frustration', 'engagem...

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Book review for International Journal of Wellbeing. Estes, Richard J., and M. Joseph Sirgy [eds] (2017) The Pursuit of Human Well-Being: The Untold Global History. Dordrecht: Springer

International Journal of Wellbeing

format_quoteQuantitative data on global wellbeing often lack meaning, although poorer nations report stronger senses of purpose; implications for measurement methods are profound.format_quote

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Fake: Anthropological Keywords [Open Access]

by Jacob Copeman, Veena Das, Graham Jones, and Neil Thin

Includes contributions from Veena Das, John Jackson Jr., Graham Jones, Carlo Severi, Alexei Yurch... more

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Happiness: An interactionist perspective

by Dan Haybron, Aaron Ahuvia, and Neil Thin

Few would deny that happiness arises from a complex interaction of internal and external factors,... more Few would deny that happiness arises from a complex interaction of internal and external factors, like optimism on the one hand and money on the other. Yet research, as well as practical strategies for promoting happiness, tends to focus narrowly on one side or the other. A typical study, for instance, might examine the correlation between happiness and an internal variable like optimism, or an external variable like income. And practical strategies commonly divide into " change the world " versus " change your mind " approaches: promote health and wealth, for example, or cultivate gratitude for what you already have. This paper explores how our understanding of happiness is enhanced by " interactionist " approaches that emphasize the complex webs of interactions and feedbacks that give rise to happiness and unhappiness. While implicitly interactionist themes have increasingly characterized research on happiness, we anticipate that an explicit recogniti...

format_quoteInteractionist strategies are more effective for disadvantaged populations, recognizing their psychological strengths.format_quote

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Rwanda

by Frederick Golooba-Mutebi and Neil Thin

Development Policy Review, Jan 1, 2003

Felicitators (The whole special issue in one PDF)

by Dan Weijers, Nattavudh Powdthavee, John F Helliwell, Dan Haybron, Aaron Ahuvia, Neil Thin, and Aaron Jarden

This symposium is the result of our efforts to collect and present what we know about the creatio... more This symposium is the result of our efforts to collect and present what we know about the creation and distribution of happiness. Our aim is to help shift the focus of wellbeing research from the 'I'to the 'we'by celebrating people and places, ideas and institutions, that have made and can make the world a happier place. We call them 'Felicitators'��producers of happiness.

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Culture, Development and Happiness

by Ritu Verma and Neil Thin

Report on Wellbeing and Happiness: Contributions towards the RGOBs NDP Report by Members of the Wellbeing and Happiness Working Group for the United Nations General Assembly, p.207-243., 2017

format_quoteThe GNH approach defines culture through four sub-domains: language, artisan skills, socio-cultural participation, and harmony.format_quote

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Social progress and sustainable development

Sub-Saharan Africa's Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers from Social Policy and Sustainable Livelihoods Perspectives

Report for DFID, Oxford: Oxford Policy Management …, Jan 1, 2001

... Prioritising within sectors is similarly predictable and uniform across countries: primary ed... more

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