Why do we like shiny things?

Moment of Um

American Public Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2023

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ever find yourself staring at a shiny jewel? Or wowed by the glistening paint on a freshly washed car? Or inexplicably drawn to a magazine with a glossy cover? You are not alone. Humans love shiny things. But why is that? We asked Bauer College professor and marketing expert, Vanessa Patrick, to help shine some light on this topic.

Is there a question that’s caught your eye? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact and we’ll reflect on the answer!

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the brains behind brains on, this is, moment of arm. Moment ofumum comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Tony Dancer and I love disco.
0:31.0	You ready to get down? Ah ha!
0:32.0	Hit it!
0:33.0	Disco, it was the main thing in the 1970s.
0:37.0	A hundred percent boogified music made popular by the likes of Abba, the Bee g, and of course the Queen of disco herself, Donna Summer.
0:48.0	And I loved it.
0:49.0	I love the grooves, the dance moves, the slick tudes, and most of all I love me a disco. the hanging from the ceiling. Ever inch covered in shiny, shiny glass that reflects light,
1:05.8	creating a sea of little stars sliding across the dance floor.
1:09.7	Ooh! It's so groovy, it should be illegal.
1:14.0	But it's not, and I know because I own 47 of them.
1:18.0	About to be 48.
1:20.0	Where do I keep them, you ask?
1:22.0	In my disco ball hall, yall yep yep but why is it that I
1:27.4	Tony dancer? So proclaimed king of disco am so in love with the glistening orb that is the disco bar.
1:36.6	What is it about that shiny, shiny thing?
1:39.5	Cool Cat Hugo was on a similar wavelength when he queried us with this quandary.
1:45.0	Why do we like to stare at shiny things?
1:50.0	Shiny things make us think of water and we want to drink water because water is
1:56.2	essential for our survival. Hi my name is Vanessa Patrick I'm a professor of
2:01.1	marketing at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston.
2:05.0	And in my research I have studied why we like shiny and glossy things.
2:11.0	One reason is we like things because we are exposed to them.
	...

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