• Question: Why do humans seem to be attracted to shiny and sparkling things?

    Asked by anon-258309 on 9 Jul 2020.
    • Photo: Kim Liu

      Kim Liu answered on 9 Jul 2020: last edited 9 Jul 2020 9:34 am

      This is a cool question, which I can’t know the answer to for certain. Any question about human behaviour will boil down to two potential root causes – 1) there is some ‘genetic’, ‘biological’, ‘evolved’ reason which can be explained by ‘science’, and 2) ‘society’, ‘history’ and ‘culture’ have influenced the appearance of this attraction. It’s likely that there exists some argument that shiny/sparkly things are a biological indication of purity, freshness, cleanliness, which an evolving human being would be more inclined to use or eat (fruits?) due to safety. There are also interesting ideas in theory of mind regarding mirrors and reflections. Some other animals (stereotypically birds like magpies and parrots) are also observed to like shiny things. My mostly western/east asian-centric knowledge (which may be completely wrong) indicates that this behaviour seems fairly universal amongst different societies and cultures; if this is true, then this would provide some evidence for the ‘nature’ argument.

      The ‘nurture’ argument is much clearer to me – shiny, sparkly things like gold, diamonds, jewels are by their nature, rare – crystalline substances are by definition anti-entropy, so it is harder to form these things without volcanoes etc. Early human societies would then place value on these things, and this perceived value would be constantly passed on to following generations. Maybe in this case, there’ll be a combination of both, but I think determining the exact cause of behaviours is impossible with our current knowledge 🙂

    • Photo: Anabel Martinez Lyons

      Anabel Martinez Lyons answered on 9 Jul 2020: last edited 9 Jul 2020 10:26 am

      Hi Sian- thanks for your question! A few different groups of scientists have looked into this actually, and a paper which compares and contrasts 6 separate studies into why humans like shiny (they term it ‘glossy’) objects was published in 2014 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1057740813001150). They concluded that it isn’t because we find these objects ‘pretty’ that attracts us to them, but because as a species we have an innate need for finding fresh (uncontaminated) water. Shiny objects mimic the sheen of fresh water, and even though in our modern-day world we have ready access to fresh water in our taps and in bottles, this is an ancient urge/drive that we have. Apparently children and adults both have a bias towards shiny things, not just adults, showing it isn’t something learned or influenced by our cultures and societies as we grow up. I’ve also read in the past that our eyes could have something to do with this too – it is easier for us to see light and dark (think about your bedroom at night) than for us to see colour. Shiny things play on this difference between light and dark and are naturally easier for us to see/pick out amongst other objects. Hope that helps answer your question – this was a fun one for me to answer so thank you!

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