Psychology just north of the Arctic Circle

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

It?s 4 p.m. in Tromsø, a coastal Norwegian city of 50,000, north of the Arctic Circle. It?s been dark for several hours now on this February afternoon, and professor Floyd Rudmin, PhD, watches the rush-hour traffic thread westward to the snow-covered island of Kvaløya and the suburban islands beyond.

The lights of cars and bridges glisten in the calm waters surrounding Tromsø?s oval-shaped main island?home to the University of Tromsø and the psychology department where Rudmin works. Rudmin is often too wrapped up in his teaching and research to notice this nightly spectacle beyond his office window.

Sometimes he stops to consider it though. A few times he?s even caught a display of the aurora borealis, the northern lights whose greens and pinks and yellows streak the sky on a clear winter night.

Each time, he?s reminded about the unique setting of this northernmost psychology department in the world?a uniqueness that colors the study of psychology there, too. Rudmin is attuned to differences between Scandinavia and North America because he?s American born and received his graduate degrees in Canada.

'North Americans have a sense that we strategically pick and choose where we settle, study and work,' says Rudmin. 'In Norway, the sense is more, ?This is where we are, and here we will make a normal life.? So, on an island in the Arctic, why not have a professional soccer team or a symphony orchestra? Or a university?'

Indeed, when asked to describe the hallmarks of what he calls 'indigenous Norwegian psychology,' Rudmin warms to the task.

'What has shaped the Norwegian culture and psyche?' he asks. 'The mountains make isolated communities in valleys and fjords, and numerous dialects. The gulf stream makes abundant rain, abundant seafood and violent storms. Being so far north means diurnal extremes and marginal soil. A history of seafaring means father-absent households. Centuries of effort to get independence from Sweden, then Denmark. But no war of independence. No wars against aboriginal people or against overseas colonies. Historical shocks? Yes, like half the population dying of plague in the 1300s, like the Nazi invasion in World War II. One of the tasks of psychology is to understand how such factors have shaped us and our understanding of ourselves.'

But even with such differences, he also sees parallels with the rest of the world, pointing to aspects of Tromsø?s psychology department that mirror departments everywhere. There are students to teach, committees to organize and research to conduct on the broad psychology topics of face recognition, risk cognition, psychoactive drugs, statistical methods and post-traumatic stress disorder.

But here in Tromsø, with its legacy of rugged mountains and fjords, deep-sea fishing, dusky noons in winter and sunny midnights in summer, there is also research on geography?s influence on the psyche.

Landscape and seasons

For example, several researchers in Tromsø?s psychology department are investigating the incidence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in Norway. Among them are David Silvera, PhD, and doctoral student Judith Terry, who, in a large epidemiological study of 6,000 people, found that Norwegians living at the top of the country?in Hammerfest?have higher SAD rates than those living farther south in Oslo. Another researcher, Professor Marcello Ferrada-Noli, MedDr, PhD, hopes to discover whether people outside the Norwegian gene pool have higher rates of depression during the country?s long, dark winters.

His research also compares SAD rates among people living in Tromsø and Oslo. Oslo has shorter, lighter winters than Tromsø. However, as Rudmin points out, Tromsø?s extreme northern location also blesses it with the country?s brightest summers.

'You have extra time for work and leisure in the summer because the sun is always up,' says Rudmin. 'A dinner party might not end until 3 or 4 a.m., and when you walk home, people are washing their cars, kids are playing and birds are singing. Summer insomnia is the counterpoint to winter depression.'

Aside from seasonal effects, Tromsø researchers view other psychology topics through a Norwegian lens, says Rudmin. In a psycholinguistic study, one student examined the use of landscape-based terms in Norwegian language. Another explored the effects of outdoor activity on Norwegian children?s mental health. Norwegians enjoy a 'Thoreau-like love affair' with nature, says Rudmin. They consider skiing, hiking, mountain-climbing and camping to be not only fun but also psychologically and spiritually therapeutic. Though you?d think Tromsø?s location would hamper outdoor activity, the city catches the gulf stream, making its winters milder than a Minneapolis March.

Another topic that interests students is the acculturation of Norway?s many refugees, including some from Sri Lanka and Somalia. As part of a government good-will effort, Norway harbors refugees from war-torn and troubled countries.

A recent graduate from Tromsø?s clinical psychology program, Marie-Christine Merametdjian, examined how well 40 of 100 Somalis in Tromsø were adjusting to Norway. Merametdjian counsels Somalis and other refugees in an outpatient clinic.

A growing department

The clinical psychology program that prepared Merametdjian for her career is the backbone of the Tromsø psychology department. The university launched the program in 1991 and added 20 new faculty members over five years. The five-year program?equivalent to a two-year American master?s degree?enrolls about 125 students.

To be eligible for the program, students need a one-year program in psychology called 'grunnfag,' which includes research methods and history of psychology. Similar to the introductory psychology course in American universities?but more intensive?grunnfag is open to any Tromsø student who wants a taste of psychology. About 200 students take it every year.

Besides the professional program, other options for further psychology study include:

? 'Mellomfag'?A two-year program equivalent to an American BA minor in psychology.

? 'Doktorgrad'?A three-year program equivalent to the American research doctorate.

The school year runs by the 12-month calendar, so students take their finals in December?'in the middle of the dark ages,' as clinical student Raymond Madsen puts it.

A global outlook

Meanwhile, Karl Halvor Teigen, head of Tromsø?s psychology department, says theirs is the most international of Norway?s four psychology departments.

'Our department constitutes a sample of world psychology despite being in a small city surrounded by space,' says Teigen. 'It?s a small Noah?s Ark of psychology.'

Half of the faculty come from such countries as Britain, Italy, Poland, Holland, Finland, Canada and the United States, or they are Norwegians educated abroad. Student exchange programs are also popular.

Equality is a strong social norm in the university and in Norway in general. Students, for example, join in decision-making and in electing university officers. Differences in faculty members? salaries are minuscule?most make around $50,000, but that?s before hefty Norwegian taxes. And the department trains future psychologists to be 'jacks of all trades, rather than specialists,' says Teigen.

'Norway?s population is sparse, so a psychologist must be able to handle every kind of problem single-handedly,' Teigen says.

Thus, the egalitarian spirit at the university extends also to family life, says Rudmin.

'Head down to campus on any given day and you?ll see male students pushing baby carriages,' Rudmin says. 'Now that?s something you don?t often see in North America.'

For more information on Tromsø?s psychology department and photographs of Norwegian scenery, visit the department?s World Wide Web site at http://www.isv.uit.no/seksjon/psyk/eindex.htm. In future Monitor articles, we?ll call on psychology departments in other parts of the world.