You can definitely feel the effect when you make something from nothing, so a smaller effect from assembling some Ikea crap makes sense. I actually just got that yesterday. I have an area dedicated for mancave status, but the area is almost totally devoid of furniture sooo.... I went out and got me a project desk. I checked it out on the store floor, thought it was a bit flimsy, but I got it anyways because I can't stand having crap piled on the floor anymore. After building it and filling it with manly shit, I'm not so put off by its shortcomings anymore. But I totally feel kleinbl00, Ikea gets old once you find out that it's virtually impossible to snap that one metal hinge to that plastic thing without breaking it. The desk still works somehow though.
Was that a guy hammering something down with his phone in the first 10 seconds?
I'm a big fan of Dan Ariely, and have mentioned the Ikea Effect in the past. But lately I've wondered if there's a corollary. We bought my daughter a big girl bed for her birthday. We all thought it would be fun to paint it. Which meant I got to learn how much fun it isn't to paint Ikea, especially with a 4-year old, and then learn how unpleasant it is to assemble painted Ikea furniture. And there's a lot of Ikea in this here birth center. We've literally loaded long-bed pickup trucks to the brim and then spent all weekend assembling fucking Ikea. And when you've got real cabinets that you didn't have to put together next to Ikea cabinets? You realize that in many ways, being forced to "sign your name" to something before it's done just pisses you off.
Have you read much of Ariely's stuff? I liked the post and was thinking of checking out his writings. Seems like it would be useful with teaching my middle schoolers. I'm definitely a "more carrot, less stick" person when it comes to motivating my students. Do you think it would be worthwhile for me to take a look?
Four books. Highly recommended. Kahneman and Tversky got the Nobel Prize in economics for coming up with behavioral economics, but their shit is entirely academic. Ariely is exactly like this presentation. Or this one: Start with Predictably Irrational. More: