Ikea effect: when we value more what we do for ourselves

The Ikea effect gives name to a curious fact that many of us often experience: the pleasure of building things by ourselves. He “do it yourself” has been succeeding in the world of marketing for decades and extends far beyond the realm of DIY and furniture. Business psychologists and advertisers have known about this striking cognitive bias for decades.

Who most and who least has ever done it: set up a desk, make a cake with all those ingredients that are already prepared in the box or even paint a painting in which the shape and color that we must apply to each is already described. part of the canvas. To the people We like to have that feeling of efficiency when we manage to do something with our own hands.

That feeling of competition even makes us value the final product much more, whether it is a piece of furniture, a dessert or even dyeing our own hair. Companies know this well and this causes the price of what we have acquired to be higher. Because beyond what it may seem, the fact that the client assembles his own wardrobe does not make it more economical.

We analyze it.

Ikea effect: five characteristics we should know

The Ikea effect is almost as old as the Swedish multinational itself. Nevertheless, It was in 2011 when this cognitive bias was first coined. It was doctors Michael I. Norton from Harvard Business School and Daniel Mochon from Yale University who described in a study this tendency to value a product much more when we make it ourselves.

Something that could be seen in this work is that When consumers assembled the furniture themselves, they placed greater value on the final product. A kind of bond of affection was created with that bed that they assembled, that table that they assembled or those chairs that they received in loose pieces. Now, there was one detail and that is that this assembly should not be excessively complex.

Now, the Ikea effect tells us many more things…

Even if you think otherwise, you are not paying less

The strategy for large companies is smart and very beneficial. Something that those responsible for this study, Norton and Mochon, discovered is that the Ikea effect means that the more we put effort into something, the more we will value it. This means that we are not aware that, in reality, We are paying more for a product that should cost much less. (since the manufacturer is avoiding assembly costs).

Companies like Ikea itself and also Build-a-Bear (build your own teddy bear) follow this business model. What’s more, another fact also occurs and that is that we mistakenly believe that since the client is the one who assembles the furniture, the price we see is economical. When in reality, it is not like that.

Ikea effect, even if the furniture is crooked, it is “my furniture”

The Ikea effect is also based on another curious cognitive bias: that of endowment. This term tells us that Sometimes, we establish a sense of ownership over what we have made ourselves. It doesn’t matter, for example, that that little table in the room is crooked. It is my little table because I assembled it, because I spent almost two hours putting it together and that object therefore has a part of me. Although the final result is not ideal.

The same thing happens with what we cook. Sometimes, we are able to eat it even if it is not good because, after all, we made it.

Self-efficacy and the need for competence

There is something remarkable about preparing that cake for which they already give us all the ingredients in a box. There is also a certain pleasure when it comes to assembling a closet or that bunk bed for our children. These tasks offer us a pleasant feeling of self-efficacy. And few things have such positive reinforcement as seeing that we are doing well, that by following those instructions that piece of furniture or that cake turns out as we expected.

People We need those experiences of effective competence to improve the vision we have of ourselves. Thus, something common that happens with the Ikea effect is that when people finish assembling or making a product, they share it with their loved ones. We like friends and family to “see or try what we have made for ourselves.”

When in reality that action and that sensation have already been foreseen by large companies. That is what they want us to feel because in this way we do not perceive that this product has a price that, in reality, does not correspond to it…

Do it yourself with your own raw materials and without instructions

There is a much more enriching approach that can impact our psychological potential. Let’s innovate, Let’s use the most radical creativity and create our products without having to resort to something already “prefabricated”. We can, for example, make a fabulous dessert without those preparations sold in supermarkets.

Sometimes, there is nothing more entertaining and rewarding than restoring old furniture and giving it a new use. In essence, there are many more formulas with which we feel competent and have a wonderful final product. The Ikea effect is increasingly common in our market and it is worth identifying it when they sell it to us.

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