When and how does labour lead to love? The ontogeny and mechanisms of the IKEA effect
This is the paper that goes after the mechanism behind Norton's IKEA effect, and it should be read with that paper rather than as a second confirmation of it. Marsh, with Patricia Kanngiesser and Bruce Hood, ran three developmental studies, published in Cognition, volume 170, pages 245 to 253. The paper went online on 25 October 2017 and the issue is dated January 2018, so the citation year is 2018 with the online-first year noted, which is the convention here and the reason the vault's earlier 2017 was wrong. The first study locates when the bias appears, at about age five, which the authors connect to milestones in the forming of a self concept. The second is the one that bites: in five and six year olds the effect was not moderated by how much effort had gone into the task. The third tested feelings of ownership as the alternative explanation and found that ownership alone could not account for the children's valuations either. The authors' own summary is that the results are incompatible with existing theories of the bias, and they propose instead a link between a child's creations and their self concept. So what Marsh adds is not more support for the effect, it is the removal of both explanations usually offered for it, and the standing is bounded accordingly. This is a developmental sample where Norton's was adults valuing boxes and Lego, so it does not establish the adult mechanism, and the sample sizes of the three studies are not confirmed here.
This is the paper that goes after the mechanism behind Norton's IKEA effect, and it should be read with that paper rather than as a second confirmation of it. Marsh, with Patricia Kanngiesser and Bruce Hood, ran three developmental studies, published in Cognition, volume 170, pages 245 to 253. The paper went online on 25 October 2017 and the issue is dated January 2018, so the citation year is 2018 with the online-first year noted, which is the convention here and the reason the vault's earlier 2017 was wrong. The first study locates when the bias appears, at about age five, which the authors connect to milestones in the forming of a self concept. The second is the one that bites: in five and six year olds the effect was not moderated by how much effort had gone into the task. The third tested feelings of ownership as the alternative explanation and found that ownership alone could not account for the children's valuations either. The authors' own summary is that the results are incompatible with existing theories of the bias, and they propose instead a link between a child's creations and their self concept. So what Marsh adds is not more support for the effect, it is the removal of both explanations usually offered for it, and the standing is bounded accordingly. This is a developmental sample where Norton's was adults valuing boxes and Lego, so it does not establish the adult mechanism, and the sample sizes of the three studies are not confirmed here.
Written from the citation as recorded when this source was checked, and the companion paper summarised here.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
170, 245-253. Three studies; the bias emerges at age five alongside self-concept milestones; it was not moderated by the amount of effort invested in five to six year olds; the third study examines whether feelings of ownership moderate it. Verified at the published record 2026-10-05. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2017.10.012
Where we use it
- Why You Love the Thing You Assembled, Why We Come Back
Reliability of this reference
No persistent link has been resolved for this source yet.
The source
No link available. The citation as the article records it:
Marsh, L. E., Kanngiesser, P., & Hood, B. (2018, online first 2017). 'When and how does labour lead to love? The ontogeny and mechanisms of the IKEA effect.' Cognition, 170, 245-253. Three studies; the bias emerges at age five alongside self-concept milestones; it was not moderated by the amount of effort invested in five to six year olds; the third study examines whether feelings of ownership moderate it. Verified at the published record 2026-10-05. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2017.10.012