IKEA effect
Etymology
Named by Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely (2011–2012) after the Swedish furniture company whose flat-packs you assemble yourself. In their studies people paid more for boxes and furniture they had built, so long as they finished the job — partial builds didn’t earn the same glow.
noun · /eye-KEE-uh ih-FEKT/
The tendency to value something more highly simply because you helped build it yourself.
What it names
Why your own clumsy project feels precious and a stranger’s identical one doesn’t — effort quietly converts into perceived worth.
Example
The IKEA effect explains why founders overvalue features they personally coded and users quietly ignore.
Related idea
Endowment effect raises value through mere ownership; the IKEA effect requires your labor, not just your possession.