Learn why people value an item more if they put it together themselves; why you might not be as hard to shop for as you think you are; and three types of perfectionism that might be ruining your life. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: To Give a Gift They'll Treasure, Go With "Some Assembly Required" Asymmetric Insight Is Why You're Not as Mysterious as You Think You Are Three Types of Perfectionism Are Ruining Your Life Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn why people value an item more if they put it together themselves; why you might not be as hard to shop for as you think you are; and three types of perfectionism that might be ruining your life.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/gifts-requiring-assembly-are-more-treasured-why-you-may-not-be-hard-to-shop-for-and-types-of-perfectionists
CODY GOUGH: Happy Black Friday. We've got three can't miss deals on stories from curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll never believe how people value an item differently if they put it together themselves. We'll also alleviate some shopping season anxiety by telling you why you might not be as hard to shop for as you think you are. And three types of perfectionism that might be ruining your life.
CODY GOUGH: You'll never believe these deals we've got on door-busting some curiosity. Shopping for gifts can be hard. Sometimes, it seems like the better you know someone, the harder it is to decide what to get them. Well, if you're stuck, take some advice from psychology. People value an item more if they put it together themselves. What's the last thing you put together.
ASHLEY HAMER: Probably something from IKEA.
CODY GOUGH: Something from IKEA, you say? Interesting. There could be something to that. In 2012, a variety of researchers teamed up to study what they call the IKEA effect. That's the idea that people value something more when they put it together themselves. For the study, they asked college students how much they would pay for a black IKEA storage box. Half of the students actually had to put it together, while the other half just got a fully assembled box and were asked to inspect it. Those who built the box were willing to spend more than those who got the box already assembled. As in 63% more.
But it gets better. In another experiment, they gave volunteers high quality origami paper and instructions on how to fold either a crane or a frog. Again, some participants put them together themselves, while the rest simply put a price on the finished product. When the researchers showed the origami pieces to the passive group of participants who didn't put together their own origami, they mixed in some masterful pieces created by experienced origami artists. And yet, still, the volunteers who had put together their own origami were willing to pay more. Nearly five times more.
IKEA isn't the only business taking advantage of the IKEA effect either. How about farms that let you pick your own pumpkin at Halloween or cut down your own tree at Christmas? And why do you think DIY frozen yogurt shops are so popular, let alone build-a-bear? Just keep in mind that when people did not finish assembling their pieces, that extra value they placed on the item vanished. So your idea could backfire if your gift is too hard to put together. A custom PC might be a bit risky, but an entry level model plane? Good luck assembling your shopping list. And for the record, I would always take a custom PC.
ASHLEY HAMER: Today's episode is sponsored by Interior Define. Interior Define is an entirely new kind of furniture brand created specifically to make sofa shopping more comfortable.
CODY GOUGH: Have you ever thought about how much time you actually spend on your sofa? Like I don't know, the food coma you were in after eating tons of turkey and pie yesterday? Let's be honest. You know you took a nap. We all did. With all that time you're already spending in your sofa, doesn't it make sense that you get one customized for you? And that's what Interior Define does.
ASHLEY HAMER: They let you customize your perfect sofa, chair, bed, or table to get it exactly right. Whether you live in a small studio and need the right sizing, or you need a pet-friendly fabric, or you just like a softer cushion. And just think about how much you'll value that piece of furniture that you customized and put together online.
CODY GOUGH: Interior Define makes it easy and fun to design your own sofa with their online sofa configurator. They have an augmented reality app for iOS that lets you visualize pieces in your home. Shop their special Black Friday 1 to 3 sale. Buy one item, get 10% off. Buy two items, get 15% off. Buy three items, get 20% off. Sale ends Monday, November 26th.
ASHLEY HAMER: One more time. Shop their special Black Friday sale, and get up to 20% off. The sale ends Monday, November 26th. But you can always find free delivery and a 365-day return policy at interiordefine.com.
CODY GOUGH: Assemble your perfect piece of furniture and be a lot happier about it at interiordefine.com.
ASHLEY HAMER: If you're worried that you're hard to shop for, then I've got some good news for you. You might not be as mysterious as you think. Here's a story back by popular demand that we think is perfect for shopping season. According to research, you probably think that you can predict other people's behavior better than they can predict yours. And that's an illusion called asymmetric insight. Today, you'll learn about this cognitive bias, so you know how to resist.
So like think about your best friend. How well do you know them? Do you know their favorite things, their pet peeves, their social tendencies? If they got the wrong order at a restaurant, would they choke it down, or would they send it back? Do you think you could accurately predict how they'd act in any given situation? If they're a good enough friend, the answer is probably yes.
Now, turn the tables. How well do they know you? Do you think they could predict your behavior just as easily? According to research, you probably don't. A series of studies from the University of Illinois and Williams College looked into this. In one experiment, volunteers were asked to complete words with missing letters. Something like S dash, dash R, which could be star, spur, stir, and so on. Then say how much they thought their responses said about their true selves.
Most people thought it didn't reveal anything at all. But when they looked at other people's responses on the same exercise, they were suddenly full of descriptions. They would say things like they were positive thinkers. They were vain. They loved nature. They were sleep-deprived or in a dishonest relationship. And another experiment showed this happening in ideological groups. Liberals thought they knew more about conservatives than conservatives did about liberals, and vice-versa.
Asymmetric insight might sound like a harmless quirk, but it gets dark fast. If you see yourself and your group as nuanced and mysterious, but you see other people and outsiders as open books, it's harder to take their perspective. You won't walk a mile in someone's shoes when you think you already know what their shoes feel like. That leads to conflict and hostility, not reasoned discourse and understanding. We all have lots of cognitive biases, and we have to fight those tendencies if we want the world to be a better place. Fortunately, you've got the first step covered. You know they exist. All it takes now is to remember that when the next conflict arises.
CODY GOUGH: It's just another reminder that you should listen.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: We all need to listen to each other.
ASHLEY HAMER: Most of us want the same things. The same basic things.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. The idea of being a perfectionist feels especially relevant now that Black Friday sales and gift-buying season is here. It's hard to find the perfect gift for someone after all. So today, we're going to dive into three distinct types of perfectionism, and why more people are dealing with the strain of perfectionism these days. This story originally aired a few months ago. Stay tuned to hear more on why we're replaying it.
The multidimensional perfectionism scale has been used to describe exactly what keeps you striving for a standard that's impossible to reach. And the basic test for that has been around for 30 years, although there are some other scales with slight variations. They boil down to three types though.
The first is the one I mentioned. Self-oriented perfectionism. Basically, you're your own worst critic. You probably obsess over details and take blame when something goes wrong, even if it's something you can't control. Then there's other-oriented perfectionism. This is when you're everybody else's worst critic. You have unrealistic standards for other people, and you might struggle with trust, blame, and underlying hostility. Although you might be well suited for leadership, as long as you remember to keep your judgmental tendencies out of your household.
And finally, there's socially prescribed perfectionism. This is driven by thinking others are judging you by an unrealistic standard, whether they actually are or not. This might be the worst one because it leads you to believe you're constantly letting people down, you can't handle what society wants from you. You think others perceive you pretty poorly, and that's very bad since the way you think others see you is where you get your sense of self-worth.
And sadly, there's been a huge increase in socially prescribed perfectionism in recent years. In a new report, researchers looked at data from more than 41,000 American, British, and Canadian students who took a perfectionism test over the last 30 years. And they found that there's a clear upward trend in all three types of perfectionism with the socially prescribed kind in the lead.
The researchers suggest this is partly due to the capital-driven philosophy of competition that permeates our culture. That of course creates competition, but it has a massive downside for people who don't achieve wild success, as in a recipe for a mental health crisis. There's more on this in our full write-up on curiosity.com and our free Curiosity app for Android and iOS. But if you want to be competitive and be successful, then make sure you do it while you keep that social pressure in check. Otherwise, it might be more harmful than helpful.
I'm a perfectionist when it comes to this podcast, which is why we always try to bring you three brand new stories every day. But holiday schedules are busy. And apparently, my family wants to actually see me this time of year for some reason. And I guess, Ashley's family is the same way about her.
ASHLEY HAMER: Meh.
CODY GOUGH: So you'll get episodes with all brand new stories starting again next week. But I want to say thank you for sticking with the show for a couple of days while we run our handpicked favorite stories for you to enjoy during the holidays. And happy shopping.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's all for today, but there's a lot going on this weekend. First off, happy birthday to our Patreon supporter Mr. Blaze. We hope you have an awesome birthday weekend, Mr. Blaze. For you and for everyone else, here's what you can learn about on curiosity.com this weekend.
CODY GOUGH: This weekend, you'll learn about five body parts you may not know you have, the first ever HD footage of a cell moving through the body, how many friends you can have at one time, what different colors mean around the world, and more.
ASHLEY HAMER: You can join us again Sunday on an all new award-winning Curiosity Daily to learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough. Have a great weekend. And if you save enough money on Black Friday deals, then feel free to support us with some of those dollars you save. You can support Curiosity Daily on our Patreon page at patreon.com/curiosity.com, all spelled out.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's patreon.com/curiosity.com. Either way, stay curious.
ANNOUNCER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.