Campus News Briefs – Winter 2013

Trustworthy Decisions

While people who need instant gratification often are categorized as irrational and having poor impulse control, this generalization may be overlooking a key factor — trust. 

People requiring instant gratification may be making rational decisions based on the perceived trustworthiness of the reward-giver, according to a CU-Boulder-led study. Distrust often led to study participants wanting to be rewarded immediately.

Nation’s Oldest Art

The oldest art in the United States was most likely created when saber-toothed cats and woolly mammoths still roamed the grassy plains, according to CU-Boulder researcher Larry Benson. He led a study dating the Winnemucca Lake petroglyph site in western Nevada to be at least 10,500 to 14,800 years old. Petroglyphs near Long Lake in central Oregon were previously thought to be the oldest at more than 6,700 years old.

Sitcom Secrets

Consumers who watch sitcoms and see product placement through covert marketing have better memories of the products and better attitudes toward the brands, according to three CU-Boulder-led studies. 
However, the studies also found that disclosure of paid product placements decreased its effects especially when the disclosure was made after the consumer was exposed to the marketing.

Photography from University of Colorado (top) and ABC (bottom)