Behavioural Science & LEGO

How much do you have to pay people to build with LEGO?

Sisyphus by Titian, 1549

Persephone Supervising Sisyphus, amphora, about 530 BC

"We become very dedicated to things it would be hard to be dedicated to if we were perfectly rational," says behavioral scientist Dan Ariely, author of "The Upside of Irrationality," published in June. "It turns out you can give people lots of meaning in lots of ways, even small ones."

In a study published in 2008, Ariely and two collaborators found that people form attachments to their work with great ease. For the experiment, research subjects were paid $2 to build a 40-piece Lego model. When they finished, they were offered a bit less money to build another. This sequence continued until the subject felt the work was no longer worth the reward.

For some subjects, the completed Lego models accrued on the desk in front of them. For others, the finished models were disassembled before their eyes — part of an attempt to reduce the work's meaning. These subjects were known as the Sisyphus group, named for the mythical king sentenced to eternally push a boulder up a mountain only to have it slip back down just before reaching the top.

In the end, those in the Sisyphus group built significantly fewer models. They also stopped working when compensation reached $1.40, while the other group continued to work until payment neared $1. Economically speaking, those who found their task meaningless demanded about 40% higher wages than those who witnessed the fruits of their labor.


(except) By Eric Jaffe, Special to the Los Angeles Times
source: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-work-motivation-20100920,0,6511051.story

Images from Wikipedia:
Myth of Sisyphus, novel by Albert Camus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus
Sisyphus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus