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The IKEA effect is how we overvalue things we partly built ourselves — the labour we invest makes the result feel worth more than it objectively is. Examples:
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5 examples of the ikea effect
The furniture you assembled You love the slightly wobbly shelf more than a sturdier store-bought one, because you built it.
Cake mixes that need an egg Sales rose when mixes required adding an egg — the small effort made it feel 'yours.'
Your own plan A strategy you helped create feels obviously right; an equally good one handed to you doesn't.
Home cooking The meal you made tastes better to you for the effort, regardless of the result.
Hard-to-kill projects Teams overrate the thing they slaved over, which makes it painful to scrap (see also sunk cost).
How to spot it in yourself
Want buy-in? Let people help build the plan — their effort turns into attachment and commitment.
Judging your own work, ask 'what would a stranger who didn't build this think?' to discount the effort premium.
Resisting a better off-the-shelf solution because you built your own? That resistance may be the IKEA effect, not a real comparison.
Go deeper — get the full book
Loved these examples? Listen to Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely free with an Audible trial — or read it in full.
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