" Our Love of Shiny, Glossy Things Goes Back to Our Need for Water

December 4, 2014


Research Fact 
" Our Love of Shiny, Glossy Things Goes Back to Our Need for Water " 

Experiment 
Overall, research participants who saw photos of planets preferred pictures that had been printed on glossy paper, but the preference for shininess was much more pronounced among participants who had first eaten 8 thirst-inducing salty crackers . 
Reason 
 This and other experiments suggest that people’s widespread affinity for reflective surfaces – even small children preferred glossy to non-glossy pictures of Santa Claus (2.26 versus 2.74 on a 1-to-4 scale with 1 being “most preferred”) – stems from a biological attraction to sources of water. 

courtesy : Research by  a team led by Katrien Meert of Ghent University in Belgium & HBR