Happiness by Design

Contributor(s): Professor Paul Dolan | Professor Paul Dolan will define happiness in terms of experiences of pleasure and purpose. He will describe how being happier means allocating attention more efficiently: towards those things that bring us pleasure and purpose and away from those that generate pain and pointlessness. Behavioural science tells us that most of what we do is not so much thought about; rather, it simply comes about. So by clever use of priming, defaults, commitments and social norms, you can become a whole lot happier without actually having to think very hard about it. You will be happier by design. Paul Dolan (@HappinessBD) is a Professor of Behavioural Science in LSE’s Department of Social Policy and author of Happiness by Design: Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Everyday Life. Elaine Fox (@profelainefox) is a Professor of Cognitive and Affective Psychology and Director of the Oxford Centre for Emotions and Affective Neuroscience. The Department of Social Policy at LSE (@LSESocialPolicy) is the longest established in the UK and offers outstanding teaching based on the highest quality empirical research in the field. Credits: LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).