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effort
You value things more just because you helped build them.
The effort you invest in a project creates an irrational attachment to the final result.
Participants in a 2011 study were willing to pay more for items they assembled themselves, even when the outcome was objectively worse than the pre-assembled version.
Your effort creates value where none exists.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Norton, Mochon, and Ariely, 2012, Journal of Consumer Psychology
- What the check found
- The study is well-known as the 'IKEA effect' and appears in the 2012 Journal of Consumer Psychology. While the paper was published in 2012, working papers circulated in 2011, making the date citation acceptable.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.