The Daily Telegraph:
Happiness by Design, review: 'occasionally jargon-heavy'
25 August 2014
I bet politicians hanker for the days when they only had to worry whether the population was fed and plague-free, rather than fretting about their well-being. Now happiness is a matter of national anxiety and Paul Dolan, a professor at the LSE and self-described ''sentimental hedonist'', is at the forefront of the debate. Dolan's new book, Happiness by Design, aims to combine lessons from economics and behavioural science to improve our lot. Chiefly, Dolan wants to refocus our attention: ''What you attend to drives your behaviour and it determines your happiness. Attention is the glue that holds your life together.'' But, he points out, attention is a limited resource, so we tend to squander it on social media, petty worries and unprofitable goals. He wants us to refocus it on objectives and activities that yield ''experiences of pleasure and purpose over time'' (Dolan's definition of happiness).
This article was published by The Daily Telegraph on August 25, 2014
Link to article here
Related Links
Paul Dolan webpage
Wellbeing Programme webpage