{"id":30343,"date":"2016-01-08T10:35:03","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T18:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?page_id=30343"},"modified":"2016-02-01T12:40:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T20:40:11","slug":"zeigarnik-effect","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/zeigarnik-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Zeigarnik Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Busy<\/a>The\u00a0Zeigarnik effect<\/strong>\u00a0is a psychological phenomenon describing a\u00a0tendency to remember interrupted or incomplete tasks or events\u00a0more easily than tasks that have been completed. This phenomenon was first noticed in the early 1900s and has been reproduced in a number of studies.<\/p>\n

What Is\u00a0the Zeigarnik Effect?<\/h2>\n

The Zeigarnik effect was named after its founder,\u00a0Russian psychiatrist and psychologist Bluma Wulfovna Zeigarnik. While dining at a restaurant in the 1920s, Zeigarnik noticed\u00a0waiters were able to keep track of complex orders and unpaid meals, but once the orders were filled and paid for, the waiters were unable to recall detailed information about the orders. Intrigued, she decided to study the phenomenon via a series of experiments in her lab.<\/p>\n

In one of her experiments, Zeigarnik asked a group of 138 children to complete a series of simple tasks, puzzles, and arithmetic problems. She allowed the children to complete half of the tasks and interrupted them during the remaining tasks. Zeigarnik investigated their recall after an hour’s delay and discovered 110 of the 138 children had better recall for the interrupted tasks than the completed tasks. In a related experiment involving adults, the participants were able to recall unfinished tasks 90% better than completed tasks.

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The Zeigarnik effect has since been studied by many other researchers, with some able to replicate Zeigarnik’s findings and others unable to do so. Several models have been proposed to explain the effect. Some theories mention the cognitive tension that arises from having an unfinished task and the need to keep the task in mind in order to eventually complete it and release this internal tension.<\/p>\n

Studies indicate other factors such as\u00a0motivation<\/a>, reward expectancy, time of interruption, and the achievability of the required task may have a significant\u00a0impact on the strength of the Zeigarnik effect.<\/p>\n

Applications of the Zeigarnik Effect<\/h2>\n

The Zeigarnik effect is employed in many aspects of modern\u00a0culture<\/a>. It may differ slightly by industry, but the underlying principles remain the same:<\/p>\n

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  1. Initiate or draw attention to an interest-arousing event.<\/li>\n
  2. Allow people to participate in some way.<\/li>\n
  3. Terminate the event prematurely to create cognitive tension.<\/li>\n
  4. Invite participants to return for the resolution.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Common applications of the concept include:<\/p>\n