Zeigarnik Effect
The Zeigarnik Effect is a little-known psychological phenomenon that says that we are more motivated to complete interrupted and incomplete tasks than we are to start new ones. In other words, if we are doing a task, in an interested and motivated way, and have to stop doing it, we 'll find it hard to settle until we get back to the task and finish it. This effect has interesting implications for the way we work. But before we give you 3 tips on how to apply the Zeigarnik effect, (that 's an example of how to use the effect, by the way), here 's how it got its name.
How the Zeigarnik Effect Was Discovered
The Zeigarnik Effect is named after Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist, who was born in 1901 and worked with Kurt Lewin in Vienna. One day in 1927, while sipping coffee in a restaurant in Vienna, she noticed that all the waiters seemed to remember all the orders which were in the process of being served. When completed, however, the orders evaporated from their memory. Back in the laboratory, Zeigarnik decided to test the theory on her students. She set them a range of tasks such as solving puzzles and stringing beads. In some tasks, she allowed them to finish; in others, she interrupted them half-way through. Afterwards, she discovered that the students were twice as likely to remember the interrupted task than the completed ones.
Why the Zeigarnik Effect Works
As a result of her studies, Bluma Zeigarnik concluded that we remember interrupted tasks better than completed ones because our brains need to close the loop on a task that we 've been set. It 's the reason why we get hooked on TV programs that end with high drama full of suspense telling us, "To Be Continued Next Week". It 's the secret of all long-running soap operas and cliffhanging dramas. It 's also why in the 19th century, novel lists, such as Charles Dickens, wrote their masterpieces in series and left their readers hanging on for more at the end of each week. It 's reported that
How the Zeigarnik Effect Was Discovered
The Zeigarnik Effect is named after Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist, who was born in 1901 and worked with Kurt Lewin in Vienna. One day in 1927, while sipping coffee in a restaurant in Vienna, she noticed that all the waiters seemed to remember all the orders which were in the process of being served. When completed, however, the orders evaporated from their memory. Back in the laboratory, Zeigarnik decided to test the theory on her students. She set them a range of tasks such as solving puzzles and stringing beads. In some tasks, she allowed them to finish; in others, she interrupted them half-way through. Afterwards, she discovered that the students were twice as likely to remember the interrupted task than the completed ones.
Why the Zeigarnik Effect Works
As a result of her studies, Bluma Zeigarnik concluded that we remember interrupted tasks better than completed ones because our brains need to close the loop on a task that we 've been set. It 's the reason why we get hooked on TV programs that end with high drama full of suspense telling us, "To Be Continued Next Week". It 's the secret of all long-running soap operas and cliffhanging dramas. It 's also why in the 19th century, novel lists, such as Charles Dickens, wrote their masterpieces in series and left their readers hanging on for more at the end of each week. It 's reported that
References: Baumeister, R.F., & Bushman, B.J., (2008). Social Psychology and Human Nature. United States: Thompson Wadsworth. Greist-Bousquet, S., Schiffman, N. (1992). The effect of Task interruption and closure on perceived duration. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 30(1), 9-11. Johnson, P.B., Mehrabian, A., Weiner, B. (1968). Achievement Motivation and the Recall of Incompleted and Completed Exam Questions. Journal of EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, 59(3), 181-185.