Dolan has more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, and over 36,000 citations, which cover many topics including behavioural science, subjective wellbeing, equity in health and health valuation. He is an author of the
Mindspace report published by the UK Cabinet Office, which seeks to apply lessons from the psychological and behavioural sciences to social policy. In 2013, Dolan appeared at the
Hay Festival in
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, and discussed the role of modern technology and happiness, as well as his work on experiences of purpose, attention, and happiness. He also gave the Queen's Lecture on "Happiness by Design" at the TU Berlin in November 2013. Dolan has also spoken at a variety of national and international meetings and conferences, and made numerous media appearances, such as on the BBC1 television programme
Lose Weight for Love. He was listed by
The Times newspaper as one of the world's greatest minds.
Happiness By Design On 28 August 2014, Dolan published his book
Happiness by Design, with foreword by Nobel Prize-winner
Daniel Kahneman. The theme of the book is using the tools of behavioural science to help promote individual happiness by reallocating attention. Dolan promoted this book in a talk at the Hay Festival on 30 May 2015. It was called "the book that will make you quit your job" in the
New Statesman because of a story in the book illustrating the difference between two forms of happiness.
Happy Ever After On 17 January 2019, Dolan published his book, which was heavily debated and widely covered in the press,
Happy Ever After. It led to praise for being a passionate and provocative manifesto for a better society and criticism over disputed statistical analyses. and was described by
Guardian writer
Oliver Burkeman as "one of the most rigorous articulations of the new mood of acceptance". The book contained provocative claims about the association between marriage and happiness, suggesting that single women are happier than married women. In promoting the book, Dolan said, “Married people are happier than other population subgroups, but only when their spouse is in the room when they’re asked how happy they are. When the spouse is not present: f***ing miserable.” Economist Gray Kimbrough pointed out that this conclusion was based on a misunderstanding of the term “spouse present” in the
American Time Use Survey, which doesn't mean "spouse not in the room" but rather "spouse not living in the household". Kimbrough also argued that Dolan's claims about how happiness correlates with men's and women's happiness were not supported by the data sources cited in the book. Dolan retracted his erroneous statement stemming from the “spouse present” misunderstanding, acknowledged it in a published response, and notified
The Guardian, which published a correction. In addition to this, he informed his editor so that the book could be revised. In his response, Dolan toned down his claims significantly but maintained that "it still seems fair to say that men benefit more from marriage than women," adding that he respects that "other people can reach a different conclusion" from the evidence base. Dolan had previously said, "We do have some good longitudinal data following the same people over time, but I am going to do a massive disservice to that science and just say: if you're a man, you should probably get married; if you're a woman, don't bother." Debate continued after Dolan's response, with a report by
The Globe and Mail stating that Dolan's "most incendiary claims were based on a misreading of data." Later press focussed on the portions of the book about resilience. ==Personal life==