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The "IKEA Effect" and Why it is Dangerous

    Nearly everyone has experienced a group project setting where they have been overly attached to their own ideas and contributions despite apparent dissatisfaction from partners or teachers. Why is it that we are so attached to our projects and ideas and have such difficultly with criticism? Named after the Swedish furniture giant, This phenomenon is called the "IKEA effect."
    
    The IKEA effect describes how people are more likely to value something if they put time and effort into it. For example, someone may be more hesitant to donate a piece of furniture that they built on their own compared to a piece of furniture that was installed for them. This idea piggybacks off of the sunk cost fallacy, a cognitive bias that describes the tendency for people to fully commit to something if they have spent time and money on it. These two biases often work together to influence decision making. Another key mechanism behind the IKEA effect is the endowment effect, which states that people value ideas and objects more if they feel a sense of ownership to them; the time and effort put into a project can create these feelings of ownership in people. 

    While the name makes it sound like this phenomenon is limited to discussions about physical projects, the IKEA effect applies to ideas and outlooks as well. People are much more likely to be closeminded about changing a way of thinking if it is an outlook that they have spent a lot of effort or time thinking into. Now that we have established a decent understanding about the IKEA effect, it is important to discuss the dangers it brings. 

    An unnatural attachment to one's work despite its potential flaws can lead to overvaluing poor quality work and dismissing ideal alternatives. It can cause people to distort the reality of their products or ideas because they cannot fathom that something they worked on to such an extent is not good quality. Not only can the IKEA effect lead to stubbornness on throwing away ideas, but it also can create emotional barriers around constructive criticism. 

    The closemindedness that arises when the IKEA effect is at play can manifest in disruption. It is inevitable for someone who has an attachment to faulty ideas and products to experience frequent failure. Moreover, because of the cognitive bias, it is difficult for those people to determine the reasons behind their failures. This constant failure despite a confidence in one's ideas can lead to feelings of discouragement and learned helplessness. 

    The IKEA effect is an important bias to unlearn because of the ways it can lead one to unconsciously create displeasure in their life. The realization that one's stubbornness to receive criticism about their projects and ideas is essential to becoming less closeminded and more open to the ideas and work of others. The most important takeaway from this post is that just because you put effort into something, that doesn't mean it's perfect.

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