Places that Matter: Place Attachment and Wellbeing of Older Antillean Migrants in the Netherlands

It has been argued that attachment to place increases wellbeing in old age (Wiles et al., 2009). Feeling ‘in place’ can increase an older person's wellbeing. For older migrants it can be a challenge to live in-between cultures. The objective of the article is to explore how older Antillean migrants derive a sense of wellbeing from attachment to their everyday places. We do so by drawing on in-depth interviews and a photography project with Antilleans who live in a senior cohousing community in a city in the Northern Netherlands. Based on the study, we conclude that the cohousing community acted as a central setting of experience from which the participants explored their wider surroundings and developed new attachments in the neighbourhood

Simplicial Quantum Gravity on a Randomly Triangulated Sphere

We study 2D quantum gravity on spherical topologies employing the Regge calculus approach with the dl/l measure. Instead of the normally used fixed non-regular triangulation we study random triangulations which are generated by the standard Voronoi-Delaunay procedure. For each system size we average the results over four different realizations of the random lattices. We compare both types of triangulations quantitatively and investigate how the difference in the expectation value of the squared curvature, $R^2$, for fixed and random triangulations depends on the lattice size and the surface area A. We try to measure the string susceptibility exponents through finite-size scaling analyses of the expectation value of an added $R^2$-interaction term, using two conceptually quite different procedures. The approach, where an ultraviolet cut-off is held fixed in the scaling limit, is found to be plagued with inconsistencies, as has already previously been pointed out by us. In a conceptually different approach, where the area A is held fixed, these problems are not present. We find the string susceptibility exponent $\gamma_{str}'$ in rough agreement with theoretical predictions for the sphere, whereas the estimate for $\gamma_{str}$ appears to be too negative. However, our results are hampered by the presence of severe finite-size corrections to scaling, which lead to systematic uncertainties well above our statistical errors. We feel that the present methods of estimating the string susceptibilities by finite-size scaling studies are not accurate enough to serve as testing grounds to decide about a success or failure of quantum Regge calculus.Comment: LaTex, 29 pages, including 9 figure

Towards meaningful mobility:a research agenda for movement within and between places in later life

Mobility or physical movement contributes to health and wellbeing in later life. Most studies have focused on the contribution of outdoor mobility to active ageing, but physical and cognitive impairments restrict the mobility of many older adults. This article aims to explore the gaps in the current literature on mobility in later life, and identify required innovations in the field through laying out key areas for future research. It discusses two, largely separate, areas of research, namely on mobility patterns and mobility experiences. The first focuses on quantitative and spatial research on outdoor mobility patterns in terms of routes, timing and transport modes. The second mainly concerns qualitative research on how older adults perceive mobility in their everyday lives. This article identifies three areas for future research on mobility in later life: (a) beyond outdoor movement; (b) diversity in mobility; and (c) the role of time in mobility. To conclude, addressing these areas jointly will contribute to further unpacking the concept of mobility as meaningful practice and to integrating quantitative and qualitative methods when studying mobility in later life. This will result in policy inputs on the mobility and wellbeing of our ageing population

Reasoning about self and others

Dit proefschrift gaat over hoe mensen redeneren over andermans denken - hun kennis, gedachten en intenties. Het redeneren over andermans denken is noodzakelijk in sociale interacties, om het gedrag van anderen te begrijpen.In tegenstelling tot andere studies, die impliceren dat ‘sociaal redeneren’ complex is en gelimiteerd door cognitieve capaciteiten, laten wij zien dat mensen beter kunnen worden in deze vaardigheid. Cognitieve limieten verdwijnen door simpele ingrepen, zoals stapsgewijs trainen, visuele ondersteuning en het stellen van vragen. Ons onderzoek laat tevens zien dat suboptimale uitkomsten in sociale interacties soms te wijten zijn aan het gebruik van verkeerde strategieën. Simpele ingrepen kunnen ook hier uitkomst zijn: door mensen te helpen betere strategieën te ontdekken en toepassen.De belangrijkste bevinding van dit proefschrift is dat mensen sociale interacties daadwerkelijk interpreteren in termen van andermans denken, ook al is een niet-mentale interpretatie die formeel equivalent is, mogelijk. Zo wordt een rationale computer opponent niet hetzelfde behandeld als een equivalent mechaniek, ook al is de uitkomst in beide situaties hetzelfde. Bovendien is het spelen van een spel vanuit het perspectief van een ander moeilijker dan het spelen van datzelfde spel vanuit het eigen perspectief. Met andere woorden, sociaal redeneren gaat echt over andermans denken. Als zodanig, is het een unieke cognitieve vaardigheid.The topic of this dissertation is how people reason about the minds of others, their beliefs, desires, and intentions. Such reasoning is required in social interactions when we are trying to understand other people’s behavior. Whereas previous research seems to imply that ‘social reasoning’ is complex and limited by cognitive resources, we show that it is susceptible to improvement. Our research shows that cognitive limitations can be alleviated by relatively simple measures, such as stepwise instruction, visual cues, and interactive prompts. Furthermore, additional findings seem to hint at the possibility that suboptimal performance might not be due to limited cognitive capacity, but due to suboptimal strategies instead. The previously mentioned measures might be beneficial here as well: Help people discover and apply better strategies when reasoning about the minds of others. The most important finding of this dissertation is that people do not interpret social interactions as formal or logical problems without considering mental states, such as beliefs, desires, and intentions. For example, a rational computer opponent in a game is still considered differently than an equivalent mechanical device, even if the outcome is the same in both situations. Moreover, playing a game from someone else’s perspective is more complicated than playing the same game oneself. In other words, social reasoning really is about the minds of others. As such, it is a unique cognitive skill