IKEA EFFECT

 

 

‘IKEA EFFECT’- modelling behavior in children and teenagers

 

My 5-year-old son who has recently acquired great interest in building Lego, is quick to dismantle anything that we build but admires his creations and even preserves them for a day or two. Why does he value what he built more? Well, give these questions a thought. Have you ever wondered why a vegetable grown in your garden tastes better, or why a 5-year-old values a Lego house he built more than a real one he lives in? Why are we more judicious in spending the money that we earn? What I experienced with my son and what you might have experienced in any of the above scenarios is a cognitive bias which psychologists’ term as “IKEA Effect”.

What is IKEA Effect?

Derived from a Swedish furniture retailer famous for products that require to be assembled by the customers themselves, the IKEA Effect is a cognitive phenomenon that helps explain why people place higher value on things they helped to build or create.

How do we use this in children?

Children of age 5 and above are extremely achievement oriented and love to be in control of everything that they do. They have the innate need to be emotionally invested and rewarded. Here are some ways in which we can harness this cognitive bias to our advantage:

1.    Creating student centric learning approach: Children love to hold the steering of a learning process. They appreciate and learn better when they have ownership in their learning. For example, a certain tech company assuring to teach children coding, allows kids to be on the centre stage of creating games, animations and apps of their interest. Though the whole idea of teaching coding to kids is debatable what we need to understand is how the company has harnessed IKEA Effect in making their learning model popular among kids.

  P  Promoting financial discipline: It is said that “a person who does not know where his next rupee comes from is a person who does not know where his last rupee went”. While most of us want our children to value money, little do we want them to go through the hardship of earning it. One way of using IKEA Effect here is to allow them to experience effort justification.

a.      Assign them household chores or socially productive activities and reward them financially.

b.    Allow them to plan their expenses out of the money they have earnt.

The pain, effort and discomfort they go through to earn something simply makes them value it more.

3.    Enhance time management: Allow children to make a daily timetable on their own and ask them to set their deadlines. Reward them with an extra leisure time every time they meet their deadlines. It is human psychology to work better on self-established deadlines to avoid failure.

4.   Increasing confidence through DIY activities: From cooking a meal, pitching a tent, making their own soap or shampoo to growing vegetables, encourage children to try their hand. Self-efficacy is central to a child’s sense of self. Belief in his abilities not only boost self-confidence, but also encourages him to try new challenges.

 

While sales and marketing executives across the globe are tapping on a simple human cognitive error to get profits and increase product popularity why can’t we look at harnessing its power to instill confidence and skills in our children? It is motivating for children to understand that they have their hand in creating something and any experience becomes more rewarding when they put their sweat and time into it.