Professor Paul Dolan: The Narrative Trap

The Narrative Trap

Before the lecture, Pail provided the following summary about it: "In my follow up to Happiness by Design, I will explore some of the main social stories we are told about how we ought to live our lives. I will seek to show that these narratives actually cause more harm than good to our happiness. This talk is very much work in progress. I will benefit from getting your comments, and I hope you will learn something too."

Biography

Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and author of international best-selling book Happiness by Design. Paul wrote the questions that are currently being used by the Office for National Statistics to monitor national wellbeing and is also responsible for producing the MINDSPACE report for the UK Cabinet Office, which he uses widely in consulting with public sector and corporate clients.

Much of Paul’s work has been inspired by his time working alongside Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman at Princeton University, in particular his more recent interest in Psychology. Paul is currently working on his new book The Narrative Trap in which he talks about how the stories we tell about how we ought to live our lives harm us. He has also featured on BBC programme ‘Lose Weight for Love’ and is committed to developing his media persona in ways that make science more accessible to a public audience.

Twitter: @profpauldolan

Website: www.pauldolan.co.uk