Bjørn Grinde is a biologist working in the fields of genetics and evolution, with a particular interest in human evolution. He studied natural sciences as well as psychology and anthropology at the University of Oslo, resulting in a Dr.scient (1981) and a Dr.philos (1984) from the same university. Presently he works as a chief scientist at the Division of Mental and Physical Health Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Previously, he has served as a scientist and professor at leading universities in Norway, USA, and Japan. Some of his earlier projects focused on molecular evolution, using viruses as a model system.A prime interest has been to use knowledge on human behavioral biology (also referred to as evolutionary psychology) to improve health and quality of life. He has published several books on this topic, the most known book, meant for a general audience, Darwinian Happiness explain what happiness is about. More recently, he has focused on understanding what consciousness is about, and why we have this feature.
Grinde B (2012). The Biology of Happiness. Springer.
Grinde B (2016). The Evolution of Consciousness. Implications for Mental Health and Quality of Life. Springer.
Scientific Articles
- Grinde B. An evolution-based approach to understand and classify mental disorders? Journal of Psychology and Brain Studies 1 (2017) 1:6
- Grinde B, Nes RB, MacDonald I, Wilson DS. Quality of life in intentional communities. Social Indicators Research (2017)
- Grinde B, Tambs K. Effect of household size on mental problems in children: results from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study. BMC Psychology 4 (2016) 31.
- Grinde B. Happiness in communal life: A scientific report. Communities Magazine, Fall 2016
- Grinde B. Why negative feelings are important when assessing well-being. J Happiness Studies, (2015). johs-neg-feelings.pdf
- Grinde B. The evolutionary rationale for consciousness. Biological Theory, 7 (2013) 227-236. consciousness-biol-theory-1.pdf
- Grinde B. Quality of life in an evolutionary perspective. J Altern Medicine Res 4 (2012) 259-268. J-Atlern-Med-Res.pdf
- Grinde B. Biology of aesthetics. In Encylopedia of Sciences and Religions (Eds. A Runehov and L Oviedo), Springer Science, Dordrecht (2013) Springer-aesthetics.pdf
- Grinde B. An evolutionary perspective on happiness and mental health. J Mind Behavior 33 (2012) 49-68. JMB-mental health.pdf
- Grinde B. An evolutionary perspective on happiness as understood in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Open Behav Sci J, 4 (2010) 31-36. buddhism and happiness.pdf
- Grinde B. An evolutionary perspective on the importance of social relations for quality of life. TheScientificWorldJournal, 9 (2009) 588–605. social relations-qol.pdf
- Grinde B, Patil GG. Biophilia: Does visual contact with nature impact on health and well-being? Int J Environ Res PublicHealth 6 (2009) 2332-2343. biophilia.pdf
- Grinde B. Can the concept of discords help us find the causes of mental diseases? Med Hypothesis, 73 (2009) 106-109. discord-medhyp.pdf
- Grinde B. Fitness optimizing theory can be misleading when applied to human behavior. Open Behav Sci J 2 (2008) 32-35. fitness-optim.pdf
- Grinde B. An approach to the prevention of anxiety-related disorders based on evolutionary medicine. Preventive Medicine, 40 (2005) 904-9. anxiety-prev-med.pdf
- Grinde B. How can science help religion towards optimal benefit for society. Zygon, 40 (2005) 277-88. zygon-rel.pdf
- Grinde B. Darwinian happiness: Can the evolutionary perspective on well-being help us improve society? World Futures – The Journal of General Evolution, 60 (2004) 317-329. worldfutures2005.pdf
- Grinde B. Happiness in the perspective of evolutionary psychology. J Happiness Studies 3 (2002) 331-54. happiness.johs.pdf
- Grinde B. A biological perspective on musical appreciation. Nordic J Mus Ther 9 (2000) 18-27. music.doc
- Grinde B. Social behaviour: Making the best of the human condition. Mankind Quarterly 41 (2000) 193-210. mq-altruism.doc
- Grinde B. The biology of religion: A Darwinian gospel. J Soc Evol Systems 21 (1998) 19-28 religion-jses.pdf
- Grinde B. Darwinian happiness: Biological advice on the quality of life. J Soc Evol Systems 19 (1996) 249-260 darw-happiness-jses.pdf
- Grinde B. The biology of visual aesthetics. J Soc Evol Systems 19 (1996) 31-40 aesthetics-jses.pdf