Is it instinct for men and women to like shiny things?

Instinct? All I can say is I don’t like diamonds, make whatever conclusion you like out of that. And I’m not overly fussed about other gemstones. I do like onyx, not shiny.

I do not like shiny things as a rule. I am much more apt to chose a matte finish.

Nope. Shiny things give me occular migraines.

Side note, diamonds look super cool wearing polarized sunglasses.

I like silver and gemstones. Am I in the minority? I have a small non precious gem stone for $3

It has always been my observation that men are mostly attracted by bouncy stuff, basketball, yo yos, jumping on beds, hacky sac, and you know, other bouncy stuff.

I want the things that are supposed to shine, to shine. Stainless faucets. Light bulbs. New cars.

I want the things that aren’t supposed to shine, not to shine. A high quality men’s suit. The glass in a picture frame. A flashlight when it’s supposed to be off.

I think there is something to your observation. There are lots of examples in nature where animals collect shiny things they cannot eat. The male Bower bird adorns his nesting area with different colored objects to attract and impress a mate.
Crows collect shiny, aluminum foil. Try it. Crunch up a piece of clean foil and put it on the grass. A crow will grab it even though it is clean and has no food value.
The animals around here will go after a clean tin can if I leave it outdoors. That includes possum, raccoons. skunks.
My grandchild at 4–6 months was attacted to the shiny spots on his “busy box.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t some innate trait that has been passed down from our evolutionary ancestors.

I was going to say I don’t think so, but then I read @luckyguy’s answer, and I thought it was pretty interesting.

I was going to say no, because my husband doesn’t like shiny chrome wheels (he’s a car guy).

Another example, a friend of mine said, “I don’t do shiny,” when I bought some sparkly shoes (but I need to ignore her a lot about a lot of things so I’m not sure why I even use her as an example).

I wasn’t into sparkly gemstones much at all until I was an adult and came to appreciate them more. I still would not be draped in lots of gems, even if money was no object. I do wear a ring at times that has a stone, and I have some other pieces. Often when I put them on, I pause before walking out the door, and I take them off. I do appreciate those things on other people though.

When I was a teen many of the people around me had formal dresses that were completely beaded and shiny. I almost always went for the simpler dresses.

If it is innate, which I think may be possible, I think it can be influenced easily by one’s environment not to covet the shiny thing.

I don’t like shiny things. You can safely rule me out. Instead, I like mat finishing.

One of my daughters seems to have a favorite saying: “Oh! Shiny !” She sure does love shiny stuff. She’s the only one out of 4 girls like that. I’m not particularly attracted to shiny stuff either.

edited.