Book publications

The Perfection Trap (2023)

by Thomas Curran (Penguin, UK and Simon & Schuster, US)

Find out more about Dr Thomas Curran here.

Wellbeing: Alternative Policy Perspectives

Edited by Timothy Besley, Irene Bucelli (LSE Press, 2022)

Bringing together scholars from economics, psychology and behavioural science, philosophy and political science, the authors explore how different disciplinary approaches can contribute to the study of wellbeing and how this can shape policy priorities.

Professor Paul Dolan contributes the chapter Accounting for Consequences and Claims in Policy.

Professor Liam Delaney co-authors Incorporating Wellbeing and Mental Health Research to Improve Pandemic Response.

The publication is available open-access via LSE Press here.

Public Communication of Research Universities: ‘Arms Race’ for Visibility or Science Substance?

Edited by Marta Entradas and Martin W. Bauer (Routledge, 2022)

This book sets the scene for research into institutional science communication and offers a framework to analyse public communication at the level of research institutes. One thing becomes clear in the light of the ‘Decentralisation Hypothesis’: there is work in progress to build capacity for communication at the level of research institutes, which potentially fosters capacity for open-ended civic science communication beyond the university marketing function. 

Health Communication and Disease in Africa: Beliefs, Traditions and Stigma

Edited by Bankole Falade and Mercy Murire (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021)

This book addresses different health issues across the African continent, bringing together multidisciplinary authors from across Africa and the rest of the world. 

A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-Making: History, Theory, Measurement, Implementation, and Examples

by Paul Frijters and Christian Krekel (Oxford University Press, 2021).

This volume shows how direct measures of subjective wellbeing can be used in policy evaluation and appraisal and provides a history on why governments should care about the happiness of their citizens.

Available open-access here.

Think Big: Take Small Steps and Build The Future You Want 

by Grace Lordan (Penguin Life, 2021)

In this publication, Dr Grace Lordan looks at the small steps people can take to make big changes overall, as well as the behaviours that hold people back, drawing on research from behavioural science.

The Psychology of Social Influence: Modes and Modalities of Shifting Common Sense

by Gordon Sammut and Martin W. Bauer (Cambridge University Press, 2021)

This volume brings together the full range of modalities of social influence - from crowding, leadership, and norm formation to resistance and mass mediation - to set out a challenge-and-response 'cyclone' model.