Bluma Zeigarnik – Zeigarnik Effect

The Zeigarnik effect is a psychological phenomenon in which people are more likely to remember tasks or events that are left unfinished compared to those that are completed. It was first described by Russian psychologist Bluma Wulfovna Zeigarnik in the 1920s.

Zeigarnik observed that waiters at a restaurant were able to remember complex orders more accurately when they had not yet delivered the food to the customers. She theorized that this was because the unfinished tasks created a sense of cognitive tension or arousal, which made them more memorable.

Since Zeigarnik’s original observations, the effect has been studied extensively and has been found to apply to a wide range of tasks, including problem-solving, learning, and decision-making.

There are several possible explanations for the Zeigarnik effect. One theory is that unfinished tasks are more likely to be remembered because they are more likely to be actively processed by the brain. Another theory is that the memory trace for an unfinished task is stronger because it is not yet complete, and therefore the brain is more likely to encode the information.

The Zeigarnik effect has important implications for a variety of fields, including education, advertising, and productivity. For example, educators can use the Zeigarnik effect to their advantage by ending lessons with open-ended questions or by leaving students with “homework” that requires them to apply what they have learned. Advertisers can use the Zeigarnik effect to create a sense of urgency or to encourage consumers to take action. And individuals can use the Zeigarnik effect to improve their productivity by starting tasks that they are likely to procrastinate on first, or by breaking larger tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks.

Overall, the Zeigarnik effect is a fascinating and useful concept that helps to explain why unfinished tasks are often more memorable than completed ones.