
IKEA Effect - 0x54MUR41
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_effect
======
danieltillett
I will add a related effect - the "find" effect. I have been remarkably
attached to furniture I have picked up off the side of the road or bought at
some cheap second-hand store for next to nothing. The thill of finding
something valuable for almost zero makes the item worth far more to me than
its intrinsic value.

The more upmarket version of this is buying antique (or vintage) furniture at
auction. The hunt to find the "perfect" piece makes the attachment so much
stronger when you actually get it.

~~~
rubenbe
I do agree with you. I think in this case the elaborate search replaces the
"ikea assembling" part. Finding the perfect second hand piece is a very
rewarding feeling. Even when the item itself has some minor flaws, which you
the consider part of its "charm", something you would never accept from a
brand new item.

Plus this second-hand hunt is much more rewarding than zombie-strolling
through an Ikea store.

~~~
xapata
Aw man, if you're zombie-strolling, you're missing out on the fun. IKEA can be
a grand time if you do it right. Since they lay out realistic homes, you can
play house! Invent some characters and act out a scene with your friend or
spouse.

------
Emma_Goldman
What is to be had by calling this a 'cognitive bias'? That is to assume a
prior and universal value-set. In matter of fact, it is perfectly natural for
people to value their own creative activity. That is central to what it is to
be a human.

~~~
comboy
People are not aware that they would behave this way.

> Researchers then priced the items the experimenters had assembled as well as
> pre-assembled IKEA furniture. The results showed that the subjects were
> willing to pay 63% more for the former than for the latter.

And it's clearly not rational. As long as you assign positive value to your
time.

~~~
anoother
Did you mean to say 'rational' as opposed to 'not rational'?

If time has positive value, then so do objects with time invested in them.

~~~
comboy
If your time is of any value to you, then you should be willing to pay more
for furniture that is already assembled, not the opposite.

I mean unless assembling it is something that you really enjoy doing. So much
that you want to pay extra for that pleasure.

~~~
ambivalents
Only if you value time _more_ than whatever positive value you extract from
assembling (and subsequently enjoying/using) the furniture.

------
cJ0th
Interesting that it's named after IKEA. I had to think of Edward Bernays while
reading the description. The guy who shaped PR like no one else came up with
the idea to sell ready to bake mixes that only required you to add one egg to
make a cake. He argued that housewives would feel better about themselves when
they don't buy a done cake.

~~~
dpark
It wasn’t that housewives didn’t want a completed cake. They didn’t want to
use a mix that only required water because it didn’t feel like they actually
made a cake. Adding the egg made it feel like more care went into it.

------
geetfun
I recently bought a 3D printer and feel the same "Ikea effect" as well. My
wife comments how I spent (over the holidays) a disproportionate amount of
time tinkering and declogging the nozzle to make items I could have otherwise
purchased at the dollar store.

~~~
antome
Perhaps this is an extended application of Not Invented Here syndrome?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_invented_here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_invented_here)

~~~
Kiro
NIH is mentioned in the article.

------
jpfaraco
About the related cake mix story: I recently found that the reason why the
Betty Crocker cake mix increased in sales is dubious, if not false.

Apparently, sales went up because adding fresh eggs to the mix simply produced
superior cakes —
[http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/cakemix.asp](http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/cakemix.asp)

~~~
bbarn
I've seen this false attribution effect in software design too. "Let's use
kanban instead of scrum to build this new platform with a stack that fits our
business better being built by the two senior engineers we've since hired."

Oh look, the new platform is coming along great, all glory to kanban.

------
greggman
Wow, never heard of this. My experience has been the exact opposite. Even
though I've built tons of Ikea furniture I've always considered it disposable.
Most of it is not made to last a single move. Some of them might survive if
you disassemble them before hand. I've been proud to have built it but that
pride never translated to any attachment.

~~~
gonvaled
They are disposable because of the low price, but they are sturdy. I own
several Ikea furniture for nearly two decades, and they have done just fine
even after being abused. Most pieces survive moving, with or without
dissassembly. I do not remember losing any piece if not for getting tired of
it, and giving it away or selling it.

Bigger pieces like big cupboards can be more fragile, but nearly any other
brand would also be fragile - except maybe massive wood pieces, very heavy and
not able to be dissassembled, and very expensive by comparisson.

~~~
lloeki
Some very cheap ones in the lowest price brackets would definitely have a hard
time surviving moving (hell a sofa I had barely survived _being used_ ), but
climb up the price ladder and there's very sturdy stuff to be had. Also, over
here at least, when you move up the price range you notice that other
furniture increasingly becomes competitive and that IKEA == cheap doesn't come
up as automatically true.

~~~
jclardy
I agree, I think there is a level where this is true, and it is at the
absolute bottom (like $15 nightstand level), but if you move slightly up from
those "lines" the build is a bit better. No, you aren't going to hand them
down to your kids, but I have some fairly cheap ikea furniture in my bedroom
that survived two moving trucks just fine.

And one thing about them...they are generally much lighter than solid wood
"real" furniture - so the actual process of moving them is easier and
generally less prone to damage in the first place.

~~~
lloeki
> at the absolute bottom

It was the lowest priced sofa at the time (~100€), and my elbow went right
through the armrest on the third day. It felt like it was made of cardboard.
Helpful as a temporary consumable, and probably extremely recyclable.

> And one thing about them...they are generally much lighter than solid wood
> "real" furniture - so the actual process of moving them is easier and
> generally less prone to damage in the first place.

Both weight and (dis)assembly are a great thing indeed: I mostly have IKEA
furniture, mainly because the staircase leading to my apartment is crazy steep
and tight!

~~~
jotm
> It felt like it was made of cardboard. Helpful as a temporary consumable,
> and probably extremely recyclable.

It might've been, some of their desks are made like this:
[http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/images/gb-img-fy15/ikea-board-
on-f...](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/images/gb-img-fy15/ikea-board-on-
frame__1364308975181-s21.jpg)

------
vbezhenar
Could this be applied to software? Building Linux from Scratch was awesome
experience for me, even if I didn't write a line of code and just followed
instructions (actually I wrote my own init scripts). I used that Linux for a
year after that. But I'm technical person, so complete noob probably won't be
able to do that. Something like installing a program to a proper place by
extracting and copying few files and doing few registry tweaks to make it work
may be?

------
kazinator
I don't feel this at all. As someone who is an actual "maker", I have to
_design_ something before I feel that I made it.

IKEA is just rudimentary assembly. You don't have to reshape any material in
IKEA assembly. You don't have to follow any blueprint to cut or drill anything
out of raw stock. If you have any sort of skill and tools for that sort of
thing, they lie idle.

There was the one time I had to re-drill holes that were off. My already low
regard for the item _sank_ as a result.

~~~
wellboy
The effect is probably for the layman who doesn't usually build things, so
when they finally build something (which is a human built-in dopamin effect,
humans love building things), they are attached to it.

However, when you're an engineer and build things daily, it's more of a
nuisance than a joy.

~~~
kazinator
However, I do value things I've actually made more than they are really worth.
It's the sense of "this is a one of a kind item made by hand; nothing exactly
like it". (Even though it could be mass produced in very good quality, perhaps
even better, at lower cost).

That's kind of the "IKEA effect", but I don't see how you can get it from
putting together a few mass produced IKEA parts. There is just about zero room
to put any "you" into it.

------
stedaniels
I get this with Open Source software too. This isn't a slant on the quality.,
but even when it would be much cheaper and lest time consuming to get the
commercial option.. I stick putting the last few screws in of whatever OS
solution I'm putting together. I just can't help it, I love that feeling of "I
built this". (Even if sometimes it was only configuring a few settings/putting
screws in.)

~~~
Fnoord
Yeah, Gentoo would be a great and obvious example of that, as well as BSD
ports collection which had to be compiled by yourself back in the days. Or
baking your own *.deb or adding your own APT repositories. Building your own
Raspberry Pi even though its a guide. Using an iFixit guide to repair hardware
even though you're just following a guide. Lego without deviating from the
guides. That kind of thing.

------
stevewillows
I love building IKEA furniture. For me, there is a certain controlled fear
that comes with opening the boxes. I know it'll go together, because.. well,
its not difficult, but there's always that lingering fear that it won't.

In regards to the egg in the instant mix (pancakes, cakes, etc), this is
mentioned in Adam Curtis' 'The Century of the Self'[1], which is a fantastic
documentary, and definitely worth a watch.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s)

~~~
ijidak
I've felt a different fear. I'm always afraid that a piece will be missing or
not fit correctly. Nothing frustrates me more. I've never had the problem with
Ikea, but I have with other furniture. You don't want to disassemble it,
because if assembling it was a waste of time, disassembling it is makes my
eyes bleed.

And replacing the missing or I'll fitting part is always more difficult than
originally buying it. Plus the whole delayed gratification thing.

I do enjoy the end result though. Even though I know in reality I've done no
great thing. :) But then I just sit down an write a program, and I feel
better. :)

~~~
stevewillows
A month ago I put together a six-drawer dresser. Ikea was kind enough to gift
me with two extra dowels.. which had me concerned at first... and still
somewhat concerned.

~~~
matthewmacleod
I can put your mind at ease - every IKEA product I have ever assembled (and
I’ve done houses full of them) is supplied with two extra dowels. I’d guess
they occasionally split or something, and the cost must be so low it’s worth
including them.

~~~
stevewillows
well, that's fantastic news. I do wish that they'd mark them down as spares or
something.

------
BrandoElFollito
I hate to assemble stuff (furniture comes first) because it does not teach
_me_ anything useful _to me_. I would pay someone to do the gardening, if I
had to have a garden (the thought only makes me shiver).

OTOH I build electronic devices and program them even though I could buy
something similar in a shop.

So I guess it comes down to what is interesting for whom, and it will wildly
depend on the individual.

~~~
emodendroket
I have discovered that the kinds of housework I enjoy are that which is
finite. Putting up towel bars or blinds? Pretty satisfying when all is said
and done. Cutting the grass not so much because you just have to cut the
damned grass again next week.

~~~
namibj
Look into alternatives to a lawn, maybe. If just for yhe optics, take a look
at moss, which takes some water to grow, but apart from slightly lower
walkability has little downsides.

~~~
emodendroket
I'm thinking next year I might just hire someone to cut it. Maybe having less
grass would be good too. Part of my problem is my back yard is very hilly,
making it grueling to do (not like you can just run across a few times and be
done). I'm pretty new to home ownership.

~~~
ghaff
Even with the fairly flat and modestly-sized parcel of property that I keep
mowed around the house, it's just one of those tasks that I don't care to do
and which needs to be done on a schedule. Some people find fairly mindless
outdoor chores a good excuse to get out of the house but I don't generally
speaking.

It's not inexpensive to have your lawn cut and the quality isn't always to my
liking. But I've found the tradeoff to be worthwhile.

~~~
emodendroket
Yeah, I just hate it more than any other chore.

------
drivingmenuts
I tend to think of IKEA furniture as good enough to keep without getting
emotionally invested. If I have to throw a piece away because of a move or
breakage, I don't feel too bad about it.

That, and I like the design. Most of the stuff my parents and grandparents
had, with turned legs and curves, was a real turnoff.

What I want from furniture is something that does it's job without calling
attention to itself.

~~~
UK-Al05
That's what so great about IKEA furniture. Good enough for a cheap price.

Means people on modest incomes can get decent enough furniture.

------
golergka
That's the reason why so many games have character creation screens, even in
genres where it doesn't make a lot of sense.

~~~
emodendroket
I had a blast with the custom character thing in Sonic Forces.

------
amelius
Unfortunately, this effect does not seem to work for home-built PCs, where the
masses seem to prefer prebuilt (e.g. Apple).

~~~
oblio
It does work, but most people don't know how to build a PC.

Unlike an IKEA set, there's no full list of parts to buy, you don't have a
guide, it's not guaranteed that the parts work well together (even for someone
with experience) and mis-assembly can render the whole thing useless.

~~~
floatboth
You have [https://pcpartpicker.com](https://pcpartpicker.com), tons of guides
on YouTube, and _how_ do you even screw up so badly as to render the whole
thing useless?!

~~~
asveikau
You don't have to build very many PCs before finding yourself with a bad power
supply or motherboard. (In my experience these two are the most common to be
non-functional out of the box.) This can be frustrating enough even for
someone who is experienced.

~~~
ghaff
Or incompatibilities or drivers/firmware that need updated or... There's just
a lot that can trip you up and I've run into a lot of _quirks_ and issues over
the years that--if I were just starting out--I'd just assume that I must be
doing something wrong.

------
croisillon
for me, the IKEA effect is a different one: it is how things look incredibly
fun, nice, well-desgined when you're in the shop (because the IKEA shop is so
well agenced) and just dumb when you bring one home

~~~
lrdd
The fact that there are some people who enjoy walking round the IKEA stores
window shopping with no intention of buying anything is testament to how well
designed their stores are.

~~~
jackweirdy
And to the quality of their meatballs.

~~~
ghaff
Annoyingly, I had to take the longish hike to go to Ikea to pick some
furniture up a week or so ago. And it was such a mob scene that I passed on
the cafeteria.

To the broader point, they do make the store something of an experience which
works especially well because there are relatively few stores so it's a bit of
an expedition for many people to go to one.

------
tehabe
I have a lot of IKEA stuff and build some of it myself or with other people,
but I never had this feeling. More the feeling of annoyance. Once I had to go
back because parts didn't fit. It takes awfully long time to assemble. A
German TV show even made fun of the assembly instructions, when you put it the
right way together the furniture would take over the world.

I think I'm just too used to IKEA furniture.

------
antaviana
I used to contract transport with assembly when I bought IKEA items, just to
avoid the hassle of assembling myself. After three or four pieces of furniture
misassembled, I decided to assemble them myself in my next purchases. It was
not cost-efficient but I discovered that I liked the idea of controlling the
assembly process to ensure it was done with enough care.

------
rootsudo
I love assembling stuff and it makes the Ikea experience fun.

I don't get why so many people hate assembling things.

~~~
conductr
I used to enjoy it. Now I dislike it. Perhaps your understanding will come
with time.

~~~
visarga
Last time I assembled IKEA furniture I didn't have an electric screwdriver and
it was exhausting. Some screws were very hard to twist and got stripped. I
enjoy knowing that I completed it, but it wasn't interesting or pleasant.

------
djsumdog
This makes me think of one of my favorite web comics about Ikea: a prison for
college kids and divorced men

[http://hijinksensue.com/comic/a-prison-for-college-kids-
and-...](http://hijinksensue.com/comic/a-prison-for-college-kids-and-divorced-
men/)

~~~
asveikau
That title sounds straight out of Jonathan Coulton's "Ikea" song for those
unaware of the reference.

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=IUPu_ipbVB0](https://youtube.com/watch?v=IUPu_ipbVB0)

------
baxtr
I must say that I have never experienced this effect. We own many furniture
items from IKEA but I’d sell them (and have sold) on the spot.

For me, the effect is somehow even reversed: I try to avoid IKEA as hard as I
can because I feel assembling the items is not the worth the time.

------
clort
I don't really understand how relevant the first picture 'Building a bicycle'
is, which seems to be two young men, cutting up a bicycle frame with an
electric jigsaw?

EDIT: I see, there has been some silliness in adding pictures here in the
history

------
emodendroket
I certainly understand this in situations where you've done some significant
work or build the thing from scratch, but I'm surprised to learn such a thing
would take root with following the instructions to assemble furniture.

------
agumonkey
I'd add another reason: the pleasure of crafting and learning. LEGO for
adults.

~~~
wanda
When I was a kid, the only thing I liked about LEGO was the fact that I didn't
have to follow the instructions.

So I could turn the boring police station into a spaceship.

And the fire station into another spaceship.

And the indigo tropical island set into an alien world.

Then medical building, the random pirate lair, the galleon and the random 18th
century fort into a pirate spaceship.

And then I'd dismantle the lot and make a gigantic mega-spaceship, with a
diverse crew of police officers, pirates, Imperial British soldiers, island
tribespeople, and firemen.

\---------

Fast-forward to today: I assemble the IKEA furniture my partner wants, but I
can't exactly get creative with it.

Oh, and since I'm commenting now, I will add that I also feel no attachment to
the IKEA crap I assemble and the eponymous "effect" probably does exist, but
should have been named differently.

~~~
lifeformed
You can still get creative with it by mixing other IKEA parts together! Check
out the projects here:
[https://www.ikeahackers.net/](https://www.ikeahackers.net/)

------
tzahola
Hmmm, after reading this I thought maybe I should just buy a new macbook
charger instead of creating a hand-cranked braiding machine from 3d-printed
parts to replace the worn-down cable insulation on the current one.

------
eknkc
Almost all of our furniture is from IKEA and I built all myself. I enjoyed the
"building" part very much. I hate the furniture though. Generic shitty stuff.

------
kyberias
What is your favorite IKEA product? I love BILLY bookshelves. I've bought and
disposed at least a dozen over two decades.

------
philwelch
Hmm. I usually consider my IKEA furniture even more disposable because I know
for a fact it was assembled by a clumsy oaf :)

------
dgudkov
The effect also explains why paying users are more loyal and tolerant to bugs
than non-paying.

------
edraferi
I was surprised the article doesn’t mention “sweat equity” or “sunk cost.”
Labor has value, even when you’re just building IKEA furniture or hunting for
antiques. It makes sense that people place a higher value on their own labor
than that of others, because the cost is intuitive.

------
jordache
really? fall in love with our ikea creations?

More like procrastinating with the pieces sitting inside the ikea box until I
really need to put the thing together.

------
rdruxn
Same goes for home cooked meals

------
equalunique
I am reading this from an Ikea cafeteria.

~~~
dboreham
Enjoy your pickled herring.

~~~
equalunique
I do enjoy picked herring, but only with plain pickling. None of those sweet
or creamy preperations

------
rdc12
If it can be built by someone with no experience in less then an hour, then is
it really building in any true sense.

Or to put it differently is there a real difference between building something
and assembling something out of a kit-set?

