{"id":43055,"date":"2013-03-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/"},"modified":"2013-03-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-18T00:00:00","slug":"research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Study Uncovers the &#8220;Ikea Effect&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A team of researchers from three universities have identified a phenomenon that they call &quot;The Ikea Effect.&quot; The name derives from the love millions of Americans feel for Ikea, the wildly successful Swedish-based company whose products usually arrive with some assembly required. In a series of experiments, the researchers had participants assemble Ikea products, fold origami projects, and build sets of Legos. The study concluded, &quot;[Participants experienced] the increase in valuation of self-made products &hellip;. [They] saw their amateurish creations &hellip; as similar in value to the creations of experts.&quot; In other words, the researchers found that when we get personally involved in a project, we have a greater affection for the end product&mdash;even when we know it isn&#39;t perfect.<\/p>\n\n<p>One of the researchers for the study described the Ikea Effect this way:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Imagine that you built a table. Maybe it came out a little crooked. Probably your [spouse] or your neighbor would see it for what it is&mdash;a shoddy piece of workmanship. But to you that table might seem really great, because you&#39;re the one who created it. It&#39;s the fruit of your labor. And that is really the idea behind the Ikea Effect.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\"><em>Possible Preaching Angles: <\/em><\/h2>\n\n<p><em><strong>(1) Priesthood of all believers; Spiritual Gifts; Body of Christ<\/strong>&mdash;We are made to participate in the life of the church, not to remain spectators. <strong>(2) Work; Vocation<\/strong>&mdash;Our work allows us to participate in God&#39;s creation mandate to subdue and care for God&#39;s creation.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[446],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3511,4281,4450,4499,4705,4917,4952,4953,5048,5077,5247,5293],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-43055","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-body-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-involvement","tax_ctp_tags-membership","tax_ctp_tags-motivation-for-service","tax_ctp_tags-priesthood-of-believers","tax_ctp_tags-self-esteem","tax_ctp_tags-servanthood","tax_ctp_tags-service","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-gifts","tax_ctp_tags-stewardship","tax_ctp_tags-vocation","tax_ctp_tags-work"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Research Study Uncovers the &quot;Ikea Effect&#039; - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Research Study Uncovers the &quot;Ikea Effect&#039; - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A team of researchers from three universities have identified a phenomenon that they call &quot;The Ikea Effect.&quot; The name derives from the love millions of Americans feel for Ikea, the wildly successful Swedish-based company whose products usually arrive with some assembly required. In a series of experiments, the researchers had participants assemble Ikea products, fold Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/\",\"name\":\"Research Study Uncovers the \\\"Ikea Effect' - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-18T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-03-18T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Research Study Uncovers the &#8220;Ikea Effect&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Research Study Uncovers the \"Ikea Effect' - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/research-study-uncovers-ikea-effect\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Research Study Uncovers the \"Ikea Effect' - CT Pastors","og_description":"A team of researchers from three universities have identified a phenomenon that they call &quot;The Ikea Effect.&quot; The name derives from the love millions of Americans feel for Ikea, the wildly successful Swedish-based company whose products usually arrive with some assembly required. 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