SOURCE DEPENDENCE IN THE VALUATION OF OBJECTS

We ran two experiments to test whether people value objects more highl y when they obtain those objects due to exemplary performance at a tas k. In the first, subjects who believed they had obtained a prize due t o their performance on a classroom exercise valued it more highly than those who believed they had obtained it by chance. In the second, sub jects who obtained a prize due to exemplary performance on a task valu ed it more highly than those who obtained it due to their poor perform ance. In both experiments, this 'source dependence' effect is approxim ately equal in strength to the endowment effect, which compares the va luation of subjects with and without the prize. We suggest a possible explanation for this source-dependence effect based on associationism, and rule out two alternative explanations.