Bjørn Grinde (homepag
grinde.one
is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

working as a scientist in the fields of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, with particular interests in

human evolution Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of ''Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development of ...

happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

and

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

Early life and education

He was born and grew up in Oslo, Norway, but spent a year as a high-school exchange student at Michigan, USA, in 1969. He studied natural sciences as well as

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

, and pedagogics at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, resulting in a Dr.scient (1981) and a Dr.philos (1984) in biology from the same university.

Work roles

Grinde has worked as a scientist and professor at leading universities in Norway, USA and Japan. As of 2021, he works as a senior scientist at the Division of Mental and Physical Health,

Norwegian Institute of Public Health The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) (Norwegian: ''Folkehelseinstituttet''; FHI) is a Norwegian government agency and research institute, and is Norway's national public health institute. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Health and ...

Areas of interest and research

Molecular evolution

Some of his earlier projects focused on

molecular evolution Molecular evolution is the process of change in the sequence composition of cellular molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins across generations. The field of molecular evolution uses principles of evolutionary biology and population genetics ...

, using viruses as a model system.

Consciousness and happiness

For the later part of his career, the focus has been on understanding how evolution has shaped the human brain with particular reference to what consciousness is and why it serves us positive and negative experiences. The work is related to human behavioral biology (also referred to as

evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...

). The idea us to find ways to improve mental health and

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

. The approach is based on the idea that natural selection has shaped the human brain. Consequently, our evolutionary history has an impact on present behavior. Our emotional and rational brain functions evolved to serve hunting and gathering behavior in tribal (Stone Age) groups rather than to be optimal for modern human life. Grinde suggests that happiness is best understood as a question of the net level of positive and negative feelings. Feelings are primarily initiated by the unconscious brain, but can be modified by conscious effort, thus it is possible to improve on happiness by exercising the brain and by seeking an appropriate environment. One strategy as to brain exercise is to use meditative techniques and include words or sentences (by 'self-talk') that activate either the capacity to turn off negative feelings or to turn on positive feelings. He has published several books on this approach to understand human behavior, including ''

Darwinian Happiness ''Darwinian Happiness: Evolution As a Guide for Living and Understanding Human Behavior'', , is a 2002 book by the Norwegian biologist Bjørn Grinde from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He argues that human emotions find their cause in ev ...

'' (2002) and The Biology of Happiness (2012).

Personal

Grinde lives in the forest surrounding

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. He is active in the sport

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a s ...

and won the World Masters Championship in 2022.

References

Profile at the Norwegian Research Publication Database (CRISTIN)

Selected books

*Grinde B (2002/2012). ''Darwinian Happiness. Evolution as a Guide for Living and Understanding Human Behavior'' Darwin Press (translated to Italian in 2015) *Grinde B (2011). "God - A Scientific Update" Darwin Press *Grinde B (2012). "The Biology of Happiness" Springer *Grinde B (2015). "Improving the Human Zoo" Darwin Press *Grinde B (2016). The Evolution of Consciousness. Implications for Mental Health and Quality of Life" Springer {{DEFAULTSORT:Grinde, Bjoern 1952 births Living people Norwegian biologists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo