Ph.D., Professor of Psychology University of Jyväskylä, Finland
I have studied psychology, the humanities, and education and have worked at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland since 1958. During these years, the Institute of Pedagogics of Jyväskylä, with a few hundred students, has grown into the University with about 15,000 students (http://www.jyu.fi). The first Chair of Psychology in Finland was established at the Institute of Pedagogics of Jyväskylä in 1936. Jyväskylä is located in Central Finland, about 300 km to the north of Helsinki.
The University of Jyväskylä has provided me with excellent working conditions, as demonstrated by the photo of the Agora building above. The Agora building is devoted to the many facets of human-centered technology. The Human Development and Its Risk Factors Programme, approved as the Finnish Centre of Excellence (http://www.jyu.fi/humander/) was located in this building. I was Director of the Centre from 1997 to 2005.
My major research project, the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, has lasted almost 40 years. The study began as my doctoral dissertation, but it transitioned into a long-term longitudinal study in which the development of the same individuals has been followed from age 8. The latest data were collected in 2001, when the participants were age 42. The study has been conducted within the framework of emotional and behavioral regulation.
My recent interests have been in social innovations. An intervention study was conducted for the application of longitudinal research findings to the promotion of socio-emotional development in school children (http://www.mukavahanke.com). The intervention included an idea of an integrated school day (Eheytetty koulupäivä); this concept was successfully established in several schools in 2002-2005.
I have also been involved as a Co-Principal Investigator with Professor Jaakko Kaprio from the University of Helsinki in the Longitudinal Study of Health and Behavior in Finnish Twins. The Principal Investigator has been Professor Richard J. Rose, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.