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So, the clock you built in a junior high shop class may not hold a hallowed place in anyone’s heart but your own, but chances are, you still value it more highly than the high-end model you put on the one from your wedding registry, but what is it about DIY that makes us feel so good?

Psychology Today found an answer that explains this attachment, but may make you pause when it comes to starting your own Etsy site:

The act of building something, putting your own blood and sweat (and if we’re being honest, plenty of frustrated swearing) into a physical object, seems to imbue it with additional value above and beyond its inherent quality, which the researchers dub the “IKEA effect.” …Participants in another study who constructed their own origami frogs and cranes valued them roughly five times as much as another group of participants thought they were worth. The increased value is not just about effort, but about completion, as built-then-disassembled and incomplete projects received no such benefit.

So, if you often suffer from buyer’s remorse, give the DIY project a try; it might not impress the neighbors, but you’ll feel better for the effort.

Full story at Psychology Today via Lifehacker.

The charm of DIY.

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