News
September 2024:
Another manuscript on excessive buying has been accepted for publication at the International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction! We reported the development of two emotional motives of excessive buying: coping with negative emotions versus seeking or extending positive emotions denoting excitement. We showed how these two motives are differentially associated with clinical (vs. sub-clinical) level of excessive buying as well as the four dimensions of pathological buying reported in our paper accepted in 2023. Check out the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-024-01390-1
October 2023:
A manuscript reporting the development of the 4-Factor Pathological Buying Scale has been accepted at the International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction. Our scale offers the advantage of separately assessing four dimensions of excessive buying so that you can give more nuanced assessment of your excessive buying. If you feel that you do lots of shopping, you may want to check this out! https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-023-01116-9
September 2023:
A manuscript reporting findings from a national sample of Canadian post-secondary campus food service users’ support for and perception of diverse types of nudging intended to promote fruits and vegetables has recently been accepted at Journal of Nutritional Science. This is the last paper of ours reporting findings from our nudging project funded by OMAFRA! https://doi.org/10.1017/jns.2023.80
August 2023:
A manuscript on transitional meat reducers (aka Flexitarians) has recently been accepted for publication in the journal, Appetite! This is based on Jessica MacDonald’s M Sc thesis. Congratulations, Jessica! Check out the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.106977
Introduction
Welcome!
My name is Sunghwan Yi, and I am a full professor at the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies at the University of Guelph. Beginning my professor career in 2004, I have been conducting research on consumer behaviour in several domains from the perspective of psychology and behavioural science.
Overall, I am interested in why people keep over-consuming certain products (or become addicted to them) and under-consuming others (or cannot increase their consumption of them) in spite of knowing that doing so is not good for themselves and others around them.
On the over-consumption side, my research programs include motivational and situational factors behind individuals engaging in excessive buying and gambling as well as their difficulty in exercising self-control. On the under-consumption side, my research programs include identifying situational factors that make it difficult for individuals to choose or consume healthy and sustainable foods, such as fruits, vegetables and legumes, and using these findings to gently “nudge” them toward these items. Furthermore, I am collaborating with institutional food services to help them find better ways of offering more healthy and environmentally sustainable food that are mouthwatering as well.
I strongly believe that my research on healthy food and addictive behaviours are relevant to promoting consumers’ well-being in the ever-complex world cluttered with cues eliciting temptations and instant gratification. I am also a strong believer in multi-disciplinary research. I have closely worked with researchers in the fields of clinical psychology, behavioural addictions, human nutrition, environmental science, public health, etc.
I invite you to look over my past and current projects by clicking the tabs on the top. You will be able to try out a few self-report scales we developed and download them for your use as well. If you would like to collaborate with me or ask any question about my research, please contact me at syi@uoguelph.ca.