Originally posted on my blogspot blog The Fourth Wall in 2010 or earlier, this text simply presents an insight, an idea, a thought.
Not only humans like shiny things, but some animals take a liking to hyper-reflective objects too, which is why my mother used to compare my behaviour to that of a magpie.
As a child, I collected the transparent and metallic wrappers of chocolates and other sweets. I flattened them carefully, and kept them in a shoe box. Fellow artist Nadia Naveau once told me she did exactly the same thing. I don’t know if she still has her box of shiny wrapping, but I certainly do.
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, or so the song goes, but glitter and bling is not only attractive to women, nor confined to jewelry. Cars can have the same mesmerizing effect: it’s all about reflectiveness. The more reflections on a surface, the more we, humans, become hypnotized – bedazzled – by the object the surface belongs to.
Here’s a fairly straightforward explanation. Let’s travel back in time a couple of million years.
Imagine you and your kin wandering around the endless savannas of central Africa in the dry season. You’d be pretty excited if you could finally make out the glistening of fresh water on the horizon.
I would even go so far that our collective awe for fireworks might have to do something with our fondness for glitter. Although, on the other hand, the sparks of our ancestor’s campfires rising up to the skies may have played an equally if not more important role, here.
A later addition:
Years ago, I expressed this thought to my friend, evolutionary biologist Jan Verpooten. Apparently, I was on to something.
Other studies appeared, for instance Taking a shine to it: How the preference for glossy stems from an innate need for water, ScienceDirect, 2014
All That Glistens: II. The Effects of Reflective Surface Finishes on the Mouthing Activity of Infants and Toddlers. Richard G. Coss, Saralyn Ruff & Tara Simms, 2010