Why We Overvalue Our Own Creations

People irrationally cherish products more when they have helped build them themselves. This cognitive bias makes us see our own manual labor as a direct increase in a product's actual worth.

This phenomenon occurs even if the final result is shoddier than a professionally assembled version. By putting in the effort, we gain a sense of accomplishment that tricks our brain into feeling a personal connection to the object. Marketers often exploit this by letting customers customize items or complete small setup tasks. It reveals that our pride in our work often outweighs the objective quality of the finished product.