Anne Birgitta Pessi
Biographic Data
| ID | 3922947 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anne Birgitta Pessi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anne Birgitta |
| FAMILY NAME | Pessi |
| SIGNATURE | PESSI A B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Helsinki |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1312-9538 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 38 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Pedagogy of care: Compassion as self-transcendence—The Kohlberg memorial lecture of 2025
The Sacred of Today: Exploring the Personal Views of the Sacred by Religious and Nonreligious Individuals
Even if the sacred is a classical concept in religious studies and sociology, relatively little is known of its current empirical subjective varieties. This article explores what people today consider sacred at the intersection of religion and nonreligion. Our data (N=6938) was collected with face-to-face interviews (N=1965) and from an internet panel (N=4313) in Finland. We present both an overall picture on what people consider sacred and the r…
Needs and Well-Being Across Europe: Basic Psychological Needs Are Closely Connected With Well-Being, Meaning, and Symptoms of Depression in 27 European Countries
In the quest to identify the key sources of subjective well-being, self-determination theory (SDT) has proposed that three basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—are fundamental to well-being across cultures. To understand their influence on well-being, we analyzed data from European Social Survey on 27 European countries ( n = 48,550) using structural equation modeling with alignment invariance that allowed us to get com…
If you are in the search of eternity—live in the present, live in love”: Intersubjectivity and its relation to religion and spirituality in self-help literature
Our era is marked by ‘therapeutic culture’, referring to the increasing prevalence of therapeutic concepts and psychological knowledge in the way people understand and make sense of their lives. A marked part of therapeutic culture is self-help literature. It comprises a wide array of items that centre around managing everyday life issues, self-development, and psychological growth. Existing research portrays self-help books as deeply individuali…
Significant Work Is About Self-Realization and Broader Purpose: Defining the Key Dimensions of Meaningful Work
Research on meaningful work has proliferated in recent years, with an increasing understanding of the centrality of meaningfulness for work-related motivation, commitment, and well-being. However, ambiguity around the main construct, ‘meaningful work’, has hindered this progress as various researchers have used partly overlapping, partly differing conceptualizations. To bring clarity to this issue, we examine a broad range of various definitions …
Dazed and Amazed by Moonlight: Exploring Sense of Meaning as the Mediator of the Effects of Religion, Belonging, and Benevolence on Well-Being
Volunteering in Religious Congregations and Faith-Based Associations
This chapter juxtaposes the vast knowledge regarding volunteering and voluntary associations with the world of religion. We start with the premise that more people volunteer within, and on behalf of, religious organizations than in any other organizational setting in the United States and certain other nations. We review the history of religion and religious volunteering, followed by a typology of the various forms of religious volunteering. We d…
Young Adults’ Conceptions of the Sacred in Finland Today
This study examined young adults’ perspectives on the concept of the sacred. Altogether, 334 young Finnish adults aged 19–35 were studied through a self-report questionnaire. The participants’ personal conceptions, reflections and experiences of the sacred were assessed with open-ended questions. Answers were classified in a data-determined content analysis using a thematic analytical approach. In addition, the study examined how these understand…
The Influence of Religion on Philanthropy across Nations
Religion has been a part of human existence and communities since their earliest forms, evolving and transforming in different contexts and during different times. Its role has been central in the history of human compassion, benevolence and charity. These traits permeate all world religions and their texts, although the emphases in different religions vary. For instance, Judaism, Islam and various Oriental religions share a strong obligation to …
Solidarity: Theory and Practice
This book brings together philosophers, social psychologists and social scientists to approach contemporary social reality from the viewpoint of solidarity. It examines the nature of different kinds of solidarity and assesses the normative and explanatory potential of the concept. Various aspects of solidarity as a special emotionally and ethically responsive relation are studied: the nature of collective emotions and mutual recognition, responsi…
Privatized religiosity revisited: Building an authenticity model of individual–church relations
A majority of scholars agree that late-modern religiosity is characterized by ‘privatization’, particularly in Western Europe. However, even a general picture reveals that the privatization thesis is both verified and contradicted by aspects of the European religious scene. Particularly, since religion de facto is a social phenomenon, what is the meaning of a community to an individual with privatized religiosity? This is the focus of the author.…
“The Parish Must Be Where The People Are”: A Study of a Parish Shopping-centre Project, Viewed as Communication
During the last decades religiosity in Western countries has both decreased in its public forms and increased in the form of individuals’ interest in spiritual matters. Having a connection with members is challenging, even if crucially central, to all religious communities. This was the aim of the development project of the Olari parish, conducted in the Iso Omena shopping centre in Finland. This article investigates this entire shopping centre p…
Volontiranje studenata u Zagrebu u komparativnom kontekstu
The paper presents an analysis of the results of the research of volunteering of students of the University of Zagreb and Technical and Social Sciences Polytechnics in Zagreb conducted between 2006-2007 within the international comparative research of students in 14 countries of the world. The aim of the research was to collect the data on various aspects of volunteering (experience, basic forms, motivations and benefits of volunteering, values c…
The Place of the Church: Public Sector or Civil Society? Welfare Provision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
The relationships between religions and states are indeed complex and vary in different cultural and historical settings.1 In Europe, churches have traditionally played a key role in society. This has also been—and still is—the case in Finland, even though the Evangelical Lutheran Church officially changed from a state church to a national church slowly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, due to facts and connotations related …
Cultural Values and Volunteering: A Cross-cultural Comparison of Students’ Motivation to Volunteer in 13 Countries
Religiosity and Altruism: Exploring the Link and its Relation to Happiness
This article investigates whether there is a link between religiosity and altruism for individuals and, more specifically, how this link is experienced. The study applies both statistical analysis of survey data and phenomenological analysis of interview material. The analysis both questions the often assumed religiosity–altruism link and explores its nature, particularly from the perspective of the individual who experiences this link. The findi…
What gives? Cross-national differences in students’ giving behavior
This study is targeted to understanding the giving of time and money among a specific cohort – university students across 13 countries. It explores predictors of different combinations of giving behaviors: only volunteering, only donating, neither, as compared to doing both. Among the predictors of these four types of giving behavior, we also account for cross-national differences across models of civil society. The findings show that students pr…
A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering: Is It All About Résumé Building?
This research adopts the utilitarian view of volunteering as a starting point: we posit that for an undergraduate student population volunteering is motivated by career enhancing and job prospects. We hypothesize that in those countries where volunteering signals positive characteristics of students and helps advance their careers, their volunteer participation will be higher. Furthermore, regardless of the signaling value of volunteering, those …
Anti-Slavery International
Social and Cultural Origins of Motivations to Volunteer: A Comparison of University Students in Six Countries
Although participation in volunteering and motivations to volunteer (MTV) have received substantial attention on the national level, particularly in the US, few studies have compared and explained these issues across cultural and political contexts. This study compares how two theoretical perspectives, social origins theory and signalling theory, explain variations in MTV across different countries. The study analyses responses from a sample of 5…
Religion and Social Problems
Nordic Majority Churches as Agents in the Welfare State: Critical Voices and/or Complementary Providers
The article compares the role in welfare provision of the majority churches in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Nordic welfare state model implies a large public sector and a correspondingly small contribution to welfare provision by the voluntary sector, of which church-based welfare activities, as defined in the article, are part. The data used in the article are derived from a European project, ‘Welfare and religion in a European perspective’, …
Social and Cultural Origins of Motivations to Volunteer: A Comparison of University Students in Six Countries
Although participation in volunteering and motivations to volunteer (MTV) have received substantial attention on the national level, particularly in the US, few studies have compared and explained these issues across cultural and political contexts. This study compares how two theoretical perspectives, social origins theory and signalling theory, explain variations in MTV across different countries. The study analyses responses from a sample of 5…
Cultural Values and Volunteering: A Cross-cultural Comparison of Students’ Motivation to Volunteer in 13 Countries
Nordic Majority Churches as Agents in the Welfare State: Critical Voices and/or Complementary Providers
The article compares the role in welfare provision of the majority churches in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Nordic welfare state model implies a large public sector and a correspondingly small contribution to welfare provision by the voluntary sector, of which church-based welfare activities, as defined in the article, are part. The data used in the article are derived from a European project, ‘Welfare and religion in a European perspective’, …
Religiosity and Altruism: Exploring the Link and its Relation to Happiness
This article investigates whether there is a link between religiosity and altruism for individuals and, more specifically, how this link is experienced. The study applies both statistical analysis of survey data and phenomenological analysis of interview material. The analysis both questions the often assumed religiosity–altruism link and explores its nature, particularly from the perspective of the individual who experiences this link. The findi…
What gives? Cross-national differences in students’ giving behavior
This study is targeted to understanding the giving of time and money among a specific cohort – university students across 13 countries. It explores predictors of different combinations of giving behaviors: only volunteering, only donating, neither, as compared to doing both. Among the predictors of these four types of giving behavior, we also account for cross-national differences across models of civil society. The findings show that students pr…
Volontiranje studenata u Zagrebu u komparativnom kontekstu
The paper presents an analysis of the results of the research of volunteering of students of the University of Zagreb and Technical and Social Sciences Polytechnics in Zagreb conducted between 2006-2007 within the international comparative research of students in 14 countries of the world. The aim of the research was to collect the data on various aspects of volunteering (experience, basic forms, motivations and benefits of volunteering, values c…
The Place of the Church: Public Sector or Civil Society? Welfare Provision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
The relationships between religions and states are indeed complex and vary in different cultural and historical settings.1 In Europe, churches have traditionally played a key role in society. This has also been—and still is—the case in Finland, even though the Evangelical Lutheran Church officially changed from a state church to a national church slowly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, due to facts and connotations related …
Young Adults’ Conceptions of the Sacred in Finland Today
This study examined young adults’ perspectives on the concept of the sacred. Altogether, 334 young Finnish adults aged 19–35 were studied through a self-report questionnaire. The participants’ personal conceptions, reflections and experiences of the sacred were assessed with open-ended questions. Answers were classified in a data-determined content analysis using a thematic analytical approach. In addition, the study examined how these understand…
Religion and Social Problems
Nordic Majority Churches as Agents in the Welfare State: Critical Voices and/or Complementary Providers
The article compares the role in welfare provision of the majority churches in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Nordic welfare state model implies a large public sector and a correspondingly small contribution to welfare provision by the voluntary sector, of which church-based welfare activities, as defined in the article, are part. The data used in the article are derived from a European project, ‘Welfare and religion in a European perspective’, …
A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering: Is It All About Résumé Building?
This research adopts the utilitarian view of volunteering as a starting point: we posit that for an undergraduate student population volunteering is motivated by career enhancing and job prospects. We hypothesize that in those countries where volunteering signals positive characteristics of students and helps advance their careers, their volunteer participation will be higher. Furthermore, regardless of the signaling value of volunteering, those …
Anti-Slavery International
Social and Cultural Origins of Motivations to Volunteer: A Comparison of University Students in Six Countries
Although participation in volunteering and motivations to volunteer (MTV) have received substantial attention on the national level, particularly in the US, few studies have compared and explained these issues across cultural and political contexts. This study compares how two theoretical perspectives, social origins theory and signalling theory, explain variations in MTV across different countries. The study analyses responses from a sample of 5…
Cultural Values and Volunteering: A Cross-cultural Comparison of Students’ Motivation to Volunteer in 13 Countries
Religiosity and Altruism: Exploring the Link and its Relation to Happiness
This article investigates whether there is a link between religiosity and altruism for individuals and, more specifically, how this link is experienced. The study applies both statistical analysis of survey data and phenomenological analysis of interview material. The analysis both questions the often assumed religiosity–altruism link and explores its nature, particularly from the perspective of the individual who experiences this link. The findi…
What gives? Cross-national differences in students’ giving behavior
This study is targeted to understanding the giving of time and money among a specific cohort – university students across 13 countries. It explores predictors of different combinations of giving behaviors: only volunteering, only donating, neither, as compared to doing both. Among the predictors of these four types of giving behavior, we also account for cross-national differences across models of civil society. The findings show that students pr…
“The Parish Must Be Where The People Are”: A Study of a Parish Shopping-centre Project, Viewed as Communication
During the last decades religiosity in Western countries has both decreased in its public forms and increased in the form of individuals’ interest in spiritual matters. Having a connection with members is challenging, even if crucially central, to all religious communities. This was the aim of the development project of the Olari parish, conducted in the Iso Omena shopping centre in Finland. This article investigates this entire shopping centre p…
Volontiranje studenata u Zagrebu u komparativnom kontekstu
The paper presents an analysis of the results of the research of volunteering of students of the University of Zagreb and Technical and Social Sciences Polytechnics in Zagreb conducted between 2006-2007 within the international comparative research of students in 14 countries of the world. The aim of the research was to collect the data on various aspects of volunteering (experience, basic forms, motivations and benefits of volunteering, values c…
The Place of the Church: Public Sector or Civil Society? Welfare Provision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
The relationships between religions and states are indeed complex and vary in different cultural and historical settings.1 In Europe, churches have traditionally played a key role in society. This has also been—and still is—the case in Finland, even though the Evangelical Lutheran Church officially changed from a state church to a national church slowly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, due to facts and connotations related …
Privatized religiosity revisited: Building an authenticity model of individual–church relations
A majority of scholars agree that late-modern religiosity is characterized by ‘privatization’, particularly in Western Europe. However, even a general picture reveals that the privatization thesis is both verified and contradicted by aspects of the European religious scene. Particularly, since religion de facto is a social phenomenon, what is the meaning of a community to an individual with privatized religiosity? This is the focus of the author.…
Solidarity: Theory and Practice
This book brings together philosophers, social psychologists and social scientists to approach contemporary social reality from the viewpoint of solidarity. It examines the nature of different kinds of solidarity and assesses the normative and explanatory potential of the concept. Various aspects of solidarity as a special emotionally and ethically responsive relation are studied: the nature of collective emotions and mutual recognition, responsi…
The Influence of Religion on Philanthropy across Nations
Religion has been a part of human existence and communities since their earliest forms, evolving and transforming in different contexts and during different times. Its role has been central in the history of human compassion, benevolence and charity. These traits permeate all world religions and their texts, although the emphases in different religions vary. For instance, Judaism, Islam and various Oriental religions share a strong obligation to …
Volunteering in Religious Congregations and Faith-Based Associations
This chapter juxtaposes the vast knowledge regarding volunteering and voluntary associations with the world of religion. We start with the premise that more people volunteer within, and on behalf of, religious organizations than in any other organizational setting in the United States and certain other nations. We review the history of religion and religious volunteering, followed by a typology of the various forms of religious volunteering. We d…
Young Adults’ Conceptions of the Sacred in Finland Today
This study examined young adults’ perspectives on the concept of the sacred. Altogether, 334 young Finnish adults aged 19–35 were studied through a self-report questionnaire. The participants’ personal conceptions, reflections and experiences of the sacred were assessed with open-ended questions. Answers were classified in a data-determined content analysis using a thematic analytical approach. In addition, the study examined how these understand…
Dazed and Amazed by Moonlight: Exploring Sense of Meaning as the Mediator of the Effects of Religion, Belonging, and Benevolence on Well-Being
Significant Work Is About Self-Realization and Broader Purpose: Defining the Key Dimensions of Meaningful Work
Research on meaningful work has proliferated in recent years, with an increasing understanding of the centrality of meaningfulness for work-related motivation, commitment, and well-being. However, ambiguity around the main construct, ‘meaningful work’, has hindered this progress as various researchers have used partly overlapping, partly differing conceptualizations. To bring clarity to this issue, we examine a broad range of various definitions …
If you are in the search of eternity—live in the present, live in love”: Intersubjectivity and its relation to religion and spirituality in self-help literature
Our era is marked by ‘therapeutic culture’, referring to the increasing prevalence of therapeutic concepts and psychological knowledge in the way people understand and make sense of their lives. A marked part of therapeutic culture is self-help literature. It comprises a wide array of items that centre around managing everyday life issues, self-development, and psychological growth. Existing research portrays self-help books as deeply individuali…
Needs and Well-Being Across Europe: Basic Psychological Needs Are Closely Connected With Well-Being, Meaning, and Symptoms of Depression in 27 European Countries
In the quest to identify the key sources of subjective well-being, self-determination theory (SDT) has proposed that three basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—are fundamental to well-being across cultures. To understand their influence on well-being, we analyzed data from European Social Survey on 27 European countries ( n = 48,550) using structural equation modeling with alignment invariance that allowed us to get com…
The Sacred of Today: Exploring the Personal Views of the Sacred by Religious and Nonreligious Individuals
Even if the sacred is a classical concept in religious studies and sociology, relatively little is known of its current empirical subjective varieties. This article explores what people today consider sacred at the intersection of religion and nonreligion. Our data (N=6938) was collected with face-to-face interviews (N=1965) and from an internet panel (N=4313) in Finland. We present both an overall picture on what people consider sacred and the r…
Pedagogy of care: Compassion as self-transcendence—The Kohlberg memorial lecture of 2025
Sociology (15 works) · Political science (13 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (7 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (7 works)