ABSTRACT
What you make, you may come to love. This basic idea, which is behind the IKEA effect, is likely to be well known to experienced teachers. You may not, however, have thought of this as a formal scientific principle. The effect refers to this situation: whenever someone takes an active role in the production of a positive outcome, then he or she is disposed toward valuing that outcome more positively, even to the point of overly inflated assessment, which the person believes is true, fair, and correct. Having exerted a sincere modicum of effort, for example, in baking biscuits, constructing an essay, painting a wall, or planting a garden, then the responsible individual person takes especial pride in the outcomes of such labour. But the psychological effect itself is more than simple personal pride. The hidden effect is that the person genuinely begins to believe that the product is worth more than would be justified objectively.
