Suffering to join a group makes people value that group more, not less
Elliot Aronson and Judson Mills had college women undergo either an embarrassing, severe 'initiation' or a mild one before joining a discussion group, then had everyone listen to the same deliberately dull group discussion. Women who'd endured the severe initiation rated the boring group as significantly more interesting than those who'd had an easy entry. The 1959 study suggested people resolve the discomfort of suffering for something unremarkable by convincing themselves it was worth it.