Profile

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Wilhelmiina Toivo

Curriculum Vitae

  • Education:

    I went to school back in Finland. Then I went to University of Glasgow from 2011-2015

  • Qualifications:

    MSc in psychology, currently studying towards a PhD in psychology

  • Work History:

    The Finnish nature league summer camps for children, catering, call centre and now at the University of Glasgow

  • Current Job:

    PhD student

  • Favourite thing to do in my job: I love testing participants and chatting with them about their experiences and backgrounds

  • About Me

    I’m a 24-year old Finnish psychologist living in Glasgow, Scotland

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    I originally come from Helsinki, Finland. I moved to Scotland to study when I was 19 and have stayed here ever since. Scottish people are really friendly, even though I really struggled understanding the accent at first!

    I like travelling, seeing new places and knowing people from different countries. My favourite thing to do in a new country is to go to a normal supermarket and see what kind of food people eat.

    I train karate three times a week with the university club – I just got my black belt last spring. I also like climbing and hiking.

  • My Work

    I’m doing research on emotions in language and bilingualism

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    I am trying to find out which words are more emotional than others, and how we react to emotional words. I’m doing this with a device called eye-tracker. It’s a very sci-fi-like headband that has cameras pointed at your eyes and it can tell exactly where your eyes are looking at, how they are moving and how big your pupils are.

    When you are shown emotional words (such as ‘adventure’, ‘gunpoint’ or ‘mother’), your pupils react by getting bigger. For bilinguals this pupil reaction is usually smaller in their second language, meaning the second language is less emotional for them. As a result, it might be easier for them to talk about awkward topics and swear! I’m trying to find out why this happens and what makes you more emotional in a language.

  • My Typical Day

    I don’t really have a typical day – every day is very different!

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    Every day of work is different: within the last month I have taken participants into my lab to be tested, taught first year psychology students (and myself!) how to do programming, watched a school class present their amazing research projects, decorated our office with my office mate, written an essay and a started a report on the research I’m doing at the moment, and done some data analysis.

    This is what I really like about my job – there is so much variation. Some things don’t change though; usually in the morning I have a cup of tea while we catch up with my office mate, and make a plan for the day. After that my days usually consist of testing participants, teaching, writing or doing data analysis.

  • What I'd do with the prize money

    I would like to do a project with a nearby school or the Glasgow Science centre

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    If I won the money I would like to do a project with the Glasgow Science centre or a nearby school and tell people about what we do, and let them participate in doing the research.

  • My Interview

    • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

      curious, excited, Finnish

      What's the best thing you've done in your career?

      I did stand-up comedy out of my research. It was really scary but good fun

      What or who inspired you to follow your career?

      I’m just very curious about why people act the way they do. In high school my psychology teacher was amazing and she encouraged me to apply to do psychology at uni.

      Were you ever in trouble at school?

      We once fed our classroom fish too much fishfood and then realised it was too much and tried to get it out. The entire floor was wet when our teacher arrived

      If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

      I would like to be a teacher or a writer

      Who is your favourite singer or band?

      I have many, and they change! At the moment I really like Pearl Jam and Arctic Monkeys

      What's your favourite food?

      Vegetarian burgers

      What is the most fun thing you've done?

      I once did a roadtrip to Norway with three friends at midsummer. We drove across the entire country of Finland to reach the most northen point of Norway and the Arctic Ocean. It was really cool (pun intended, the water was freezing!)

      If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

      To my family to stay healthy, to be able to travel as much as I want to and to learn a new language

      Tell us a joke.

      I’m a-Freud I’m really bad at jokes!

  • My profile link:
    https://ias.im/u.140923

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