IKEA Effect

Experimental findings

Norton, Mochon and Ariely (2012) had participants assemble IKEA storage boxes and found that they were willing to pay more for the boxes they had built than for identical pre-assembled ones. In origami and Lego experiments, participants valued their own amateur creations about as highly as experts' work and expected others to value them that way too. Completion was a key condition: the effect vanished when people started building but then disassembled the item or failed to finish. A similar phenomenon appears in mass customization. Franke, Schreier and Kaiser (2010) reported an "I designed it myself" effect, in which consumers were willing to pay more for products they had designed. A long-circulating marketing anecdote, that cake mixes sold better once buyers had to add their own eggs, captures the same intuition, though whether it is true is unclear.

Mechanisms and related theories

Mochon, Norton and Ariely (2012) showed that people whose sense of competence had been threatened valued their own creations more highly. They argued that the IKEA effect serves to affirm and restore feelings of competence. According to the theory of psychological ownership reviewed by Pierce, Kostova and Dirks (2003), the more people invest themselves in something, the more they feel it is theirs. This links to the endowment effect (Thaler, 1980; Kahneman, Knetsch and Thaler, 1990), the tendency to value things more once we own them. Aronson and Mills (1959) showed that people who went through a severe initiation liked the group more, which is explained as effort justification in cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957). Research on the effort heuristic by Kruger and colleagues (2004) showed that people rate the quality of work more highly when more effort went into it.

Development, applications and limits

Studying whether children show the IKEA effect, Marsh, Kanngiesser and Hood (2018) reported that a preference for objects they had made emerges around age five. Dohle, Rall and Siegrist (2014) showed that people find food they cooked themselves tastier and eat more of it. Inzlicht, Shenhav and Olivola (2018) framed such findings as the effort paradox: effort is both a cost and a source of value. The IKEA effect has limits, however. It disappears when people fail or don't finish, and overvaluing one's own work can lead to poor judgment in pricing or project evaluation. It also carries a risk similar to the sunk cost fallacy of sticking with a failing plan because of effort already invested.

FAQ

What is the IKEA effect in simple terms?

Things you assemble or make yourself feel more precious and valuable than the same item bought ready-made. Putting in your own effort creates attachment.

Does making something yourself always make you like it more?

No. Research shows the effect appears when you finish the job; if you fail or don't complete it, the effect disappears. Overvaluing your own work can also lead to poor judgment.

Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26

References

1. Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59(2), 177–181.
2. Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
3. Thaler, R. (1980). Toward a positive theory of consumer choice. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 1(1), 39–60.
4. Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L., & Thaler, R. H. (1990). Experimental tests of the endowment effect and the Coase theorem. Journal of Political Economy, 98(6), 1325–1348.
5. Pierce, J. L., Kostova, T., & Dirks, K. T. (2003). The state of psychological ownership: Integrating and extending a century of research. Review of General Psychology, 7(1), 84–107.
6. Kruger, J., Wirtz, D., Van Boven, L., & Altermatt, T. W. (2004). The effort heuristic. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(1), 91–98.
7. Franke, N., Schreier, M., & Kaiser, U. (2010). The 'I designed it myself' effect in mass customization. Management Science, 56(1), 125–140.
8. Norton, M. I., Mochon, D., & Ariely, D. (2012). The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(3), 453–460.
9. Mochon, D., Norton, M. I., & Ariely, D. (2012). Bolstering and restoring feelings of competence via the IKEA effect. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(4), 363–369.
10. Dohle, S., Rall, S., & Siegrist, M. (2014). I cooked it myself: Preparing food increases liking and consumption. Food Quality and Preference, 33, 14–16.
11. Marsh, L. E., Kanngiesser, P., & Hood, B. (2018). When and how does labour lead to love? The ontogeny and mechanisms of the IKEA effect. Cognition, 170, 245–253.
12. Inzlicht, M., Shenhav, A., & Olivola, C. Y. (2018). The effort paradox: Effort is both costly and valued. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(4), 337–349.