The IKEA Effect and Travel

Adventure is a State of Mind

There is a psychological phenomenon called the “IKEA Effect” that probably should be called the “Betty Crocker Effect” given that researchers began to first pay attention to it when instant cake mixes were invented. What does this have to do with travel? Stick with me, I promise it will all make sense eventually.

Instant Cake Mixes

In the 1950’s, one of the biggest business trends was to find ways to make housewives’ jobs easier, and instant cake mixes were all the rage. Interestingly, they’d actually been invented almost two decades before that when P. Duff and Sons patented the first instant cake mix. Just add water! By the 1940’s, there were more than 200 companies offering instant cake mixes, but somehow they just weren’t growing in popularity the way other instant products were.

Researchers eventually figured out that the women baking the cakes (because it was almost exclusively women in those days) did not feel any ownership of the cake if the only thing they did was add water. So General Mills (the owner of the Betty Crocker brand) took the powdered eggs out of the mix. When the cake maker now needed to add both water AND eggs, ownership and pride in the cake’s creation increased significantly…as did the sale of instant cake mixes.

Build Your Own IKEA Furniture

Similarly, researchers have looked at the impact that putting labor into a product has on the buyer. One of the primary findings is that when people contribute to the creation of a product, such as putting together a piece of furniture (hence the name “The IKEA Effect”), they value the product more.

So why am I talking about cake mixes and IKEA furniture in a blog about travel? It’s because the IKEA effect works with trip planning as well. Doing the research and planning a trip increases our ownership of the trip and consequently our enjoyment of it. Sure, the more luxurious option is to have someone else make all of the arrangements for you. But the reality is that successfully planning and organizing an adventure results in a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of pride that you just can’t get by only following someone else’s plans.

Build Your Own Travel Adventure

Am I saying that do-it-yourself is the only way to go? Of course not! If your time is limited, having someone else do the planning may be the only way to make the trip happen. Or if you are so unfamiliar with an area and its language and customs that having someone else plan and guide the trip is the only way to feel comfortable enough to take that trip, then it is well worth it to hand the planning over to someone else. (Greg and I have discussed the possibility of taking a photo safari in Africa someday, but we accept that our knowledge of the area and the wildlife is so limited that we would not even consider trying to do that trip independently.)

My primary purpose with this blog is to help us all learn how our brains function so that we can use psychology to be more adventurous (when we want to be) in our travels as well as in our day to day lives. I brought up the IKEA Effect because whether or not we are traveling independently or as part of a planned tour group or cruise, it is a strategy that can add value to our adventures. If you’re planning the trip yourself, you’re already benefitting from the phenomenon. If you’re letting someone else do the planning, however, you can still benefit from the IKEA Effect with just a few minor changes in how you approach your trip.

Adding Value to All of Your Travel Adventures

To increase your sense of ownership in your trip, identify ways that you can be less passive and instead be a more active participant in the process. No, I’m not suggesting that you take over driving the tour bus. (And seriously, who would want to?! Those drivers have unbelievable skills to drive those huge buses down some of the tiny European streets I’ve seen them on!)

What I’m recommending is before your trip, take some time to research the places you will be visiting, even if you know you’ll have a tour guide when you’re there. The research can be reading a book about the area or reading about it on the internet. It also can be doing something more entertaining, such as reading a novel or watching a movie that takes place in the country you will be visiting. Or you can try cooking food from that country or visiting a restaurant that specializes in the food of the regions you will be visiting. Even if you have a tour guide on your trip, having learned something about the area or culture ahead of time will help you get even more out of what the guide is talking about.

Be adaptable, flexible and never stop learning. The rate of change will never stop and neither should you.

Brian Regan

In Just a Few Words

Learning a little of the language for where you’ll be visiting is also a way to participate more actively in your trip, even if it is organized by someone else. If you are traveling with an organized group, you will likely be with someone who can translate when needed, but learning at least a few words can give you a little of that IKEA Effect. Being able to at least say “please” and “thank you” is not only polite and respectful, but it increases your opportunities to interact with others in a positive manner. Even better, learn how to say some additional phrases such as “this is delicious” or “it’s beautiful” or to ask “where is the bathroom?”

To find some of those simple phrases, you can do an internet search for “key phrases” or “essential phrases” for traveling in the language or country of your choice. Or you can use Google Translate to translate specific words and phrases that you want to learn and memorize for your trip. It’s available both on the internet or as an app on your phone. There are also lots of free language-learning apps out there that can help you to learn more of the language if you’re interested, such as Mango or Duolingo. Once you’re on your trip, Google Translate can be a helpful tool in figuring out signs and menus. (You can download a specific language so that you can access the dictionary even when you do not have wifi or cell service.)

Mix-and-Match

If you want to take on more ownership of your trip and maximize the IKEA Effect, but you’re not sure you’re ready to plan the entire adventure on your own, there are some compromises you can make. (Life is rarely all-or-nothing.) Even if you let someone else do most of the planning, you can take on some of it on your own. For example, when we traveled to the Azores, we booked a tour that planned our hotel, flights, and transportation to and from the airport. They also offered day trips around the island we were on, but we instead decided to explore on our own by foot and with a rental car.

You can also do the reverse–you could make the reservations for your hotel and flights but hire a guide or join a tour. On a trip to London with my niece and friends, we planned most of the trip independently but joined a one day bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath.

The nice thing about a mix-and-match approach to travel planning is that you can create the perfect trip for you and your travel companions based on the time and money you have available as well as on your comfort level. Being an active participant in the trip, even if just in a small way, is likely to increase your overall enjoyment of the trip.

How much of the planning do you want to do for your next trip? What are ways you can increase your enjoyment of your travels by doing more of the planning or by learning more about the places you will be visiting?