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United States Brian Wansink was a prominent researcher in consumer behavior and marketing, known for his studies on eating habits and environmental cues, before his academic career ended amidst findings of scientific misconduct.
Brian Wansink held the John S. Dyson Endowed Chair of Marketing and directed the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. His work at Cornell focused on consumer behavior and people's food choices, including how environmental cues influence eating habits.
Wansink served as the executive director of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion from November 2007 through January 2009. In this role, he was responsible for the oversight of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, MyPyramid.gov, and various other food-related programs.
Wansink worked with the White House to influence marketing practices at food companies and contributed to developing new U.S. dietary guidelines in 2010.
Brian Wansink was born on June 28, 1960, in Sioux City, Iowa. He received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Wayne State College in 1982, followed by a Master of Arts in journalism and mass communication from Drake University in 1984. He completed his academic training with a Ph.D. in marketing (consumer behavior) from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990. His academic career began at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College from 1990 to 1994, followed by positions at the Wharton Graduate School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 1997, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1997 to 2005.
In 2005, Wansink joined Cornell University, holding the John S. Dyson Endowed Chair in the Applied Economics and Management Department, where he directed the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. His research focused on understanding how environmental cues influence food choices and eating behaviors. A notable study, the “bottomless bowls” experiment in 2005, demonstrated that people tend to eat more when served in a bowl that was secretly replenished. This study earned him an Ig Nobel Prize in nutrition in 2007. He authored “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think” in 2006, a popular science book that explored his research findings and offered practical advice on eating habits. Between 2007 and 2009, Wansink served as the executive director of the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, overseeing the development of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other food-related programs.
However, Wansink’s career faced public scrutiny beginning in 2017 when allegations of questionable research practices emerged, including data manipulation and inappropriate statistical analyses, referred to as “p-hacking.” An internal review by Cornell University found him responsible for academic misconduct, leading to his removal from teaching and research duties in September 2018. Following these findings, he resigned from the university, effective June 30, 2019. Over two dozen of his papers were retracted from scientific journals due to these issues. His second book, “Slim by Design,” was released in 2014, and he initiated a Kickstarter campaign for a coaching program based on it, though the program was not ultimately produced.
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