Although mainly identified as the propensity for overeating in response to negative feelings, emotional eating still remains a poorly defined construct. Based on Lovejoy and other scholars’ holistic world view, the current study presents a brief analysis of emotional eating from an interdisciplinary perspective: psychology, nutrition, willpower and self-control, literature, cultural studies, macroeconomics, consumer behaviour, behavioural economics and neurosciences, behavioural-change theories, game theory and mathematics. While each area of interest will approach the topic differently, putting together all these views can open a pathway towards comprehensive studies and meta-analyses that could help solve the intricate puzzle of weight gain and poor health in connection with emotional eating. Since the purpose of any research is ultimately to serve life and benefit humankind, the current study proposes to demonstrate indirectly that sciences and humanities can provide together a bird’s eye view of such a complex phenomenon as emotional eating.

Kazuo Ishiguro, emotional eating, behavioural economics, game theory, globalisation