What makes us feel good? The 'Ikea effect'

The 'Ikea Effect' is a cognitive bias where labor enhances affection for its results. Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University Dan Ariely gave a good analogy of the 'Ikea Effect.' He compared the effect with when packet cake mixtures were first introduced. You see people never brought cake mixtures when they were first introduced. So, the manufactures surveyed customers to find out why they didn't like the product. Was it the taste? No.

The results of their study showed that people weren't satisfied with the effort they had put in, by just pouring a little water into the mixing bowl and placing into an oven. They didn't have ownership of the cake and couldn't honestly say this is 'my' cake that 'I' made.

So, the solution was to take the milk and eggs out of the powder and allow them to do this themselves.

The general rule is make something and be more happy!