The Zeigarnik effect is a psychological phenomenon that was discovered in a Berlin cafe. To this day, it is actively used in Gestalt therapy and to increase productivity. By describing the features of psychological processes that develop in the absence of a logical conclusion to a matter, the Bluma Zeigarnik effect helps explain the nature of feelings such as anxiety and guilt.
Have you ever encountered unpleasant feelings in a relationship when the dialogue has already ended, but its development in thoughts continues? Or maybe a difficulty that has long been in the past still inspires fear and haunts you? Such situations in psychology are designated by an incomplete gestalt and are clear examples of the Zeigarnik effect.
Bluma Zeigarnik and her important discovery
The discovery of this interesting effect of unfinished action was made by the Soviet psychologist Bluma Vulfovna Zeigarnik while still a student. While talking in a cafe with her thesis supervisor, Kurt Lewin, she drew attention to the behavior of one waiter. He served customers without a pen and notepad, which other employees actively used.
Together with her mentor, she called the waiter over and asked him to remember what dishes the visitors at the next table ordered. He easily listed a considerable list, without missing a single item. Then Bluma and Kurt asked him about the order of the visitors who had already paid and left the cafe. And then the waiter could not remember a single dish, although he had previously given the order to the cook absolutely accurately.
The student was very interested in this case. While searching for an explanation for the cafe employee's phenomenal memory and its instantaneous “switching off,” she made an amazing discovery. It turns out that completed and unfinished tasks have different meanings for a person. She developed and studied this idea, which was later recognized by official psychology and named after her - the Bluma Zeigarnik effect.
How to use in daily life?
Multitasking will have to be eliminated from your life. If you are used to wasting your energy on several things at once, then you have probably noticed that your thoughts periodically return to one or more unfinished tasks. This does not allow you to concentrate 100% on something specific.
There is a way out - keep a notebook or diary. It's worth writing down everything you plan to do that day. Following the list, complete each item in order. Cross off or check off when at least one task is completed. The feeling of victory, pride and peace will arise instantly. This will give you the motivation to stop multitasking again.
If you are lazy or simply cannot start doing something, there is also a way out using the Bluma Zeigarnik effect. The principle of action is almost the same: make a plan and force yourself to do at least something. The main thing here is to just start. The simplest and least energy-consuming tasks need to be completed first. Then you can move on to medium ones, then to complex ones. After 10-15 minutes, the brain will get used to it, and then it will not let you forget about the task you started if you suddenly interrupt. The saying goes well with this case: the eyes are afraid, but the hands do. Unfortunately, this cannot cure chronic procrastination.
What is the psychological phenomenon of Zeigarnik?
Briefly speaking about the Zeigarnik effect, it comes down to explaining the influence of an unfinished action on a person’s state. Without completing a task, people cannot calm down and relax. An example would be an important conversation with a spouse that is interrupted by someone in the middle. Lack of agreement leads to tension and uncertainty in relationships. A person cannot relax and switch to other things; thoughts about the conversation constantly pop up in his memory.
Based on his observations, here is what Bluma Zeigarnik writes about this in the book “Patopsychology”: “When an action is not completed, the intention remains unfulfilled, a certain affective activity is created (in the terminology of K. Levin, a “dynamic system”), which manifests itself in a different form activity - in this case in reproduction."
Speaking briefly about how exactly the Zeigarnik effect unfolds, in psychology they denote the following sequence:
- Starting any task creates tension in a person’s memory.
- Tension tends to end, influencing behavior.
- The tension is released as soon as the end of the matter is realized.
By nature, a person is designed in such a way that he feels comfort and a sense of satisfaction only from solving a task and completing the work process. Such a direction as Gestalt psychology talks about this in more detail.
Modifications of the experiment B.V. Zeigarnik
In studying cognitive factors, many scientists have tried to explain both the original effect and various studies that sometimes did not replicate the original experiment.
One of these scientists were employees of the University of Colorado.
In the first experiment, they attempted to compare the methods used by Zeigarnik (1927). However, one of the necessary changes was the use of mental tasks only, without including a task related to hand motor skills in the study design. The subjects were 39 students (25 women and 14 men) from the University of Michigan. This study used twenty word problems, including mathematics, logic, and analysis (Mosler, 1977). All of them were divided into separate groups and required from 15 seconds to four minutes for a successful solution. Each task was presented on a separate sheet of paper and had its own short name, for example, "Bridge".
The next step was subjective assessment using a scale. For each previously given problem, subjects were asked to rate how confident they were that their answer was correct.
Subjects were given the following instructions: “You will have a series of tasks. Please work quickly and accurately. Do not solve tasks intuitively: try to analyze everything and give a clear answer. As soon as you finish one task, you will be immediately given the next one. Don't worry if you don't finish the solution."
Following these instructions, subjects were presented with the first two problems. One was easy and each participant completed it within a period of between 30 and 210 seconds. The second was quite complex, and each subject was successfully interrupted by the experimenter between 15 and 60 seconds. The experimenter followed this pattern throughout solving all 20 test tasks. The test tasks were presented in the same random order for all subjects.
Immediately after finishing all 20 tasks, participants were asked to write about the tasks they could remember. The experimenter also asked participants to note how correctly they solved each problem that they could remember, based on their subjective assessment of correctness.
The results showed that participants recalled almost equally well both unfinished tasks and tasks that they had completed, and were absolutely confident in the correctness of their solutions.
It was concluded that confidence regarding how well participants performed on a task generated a sense of satisfaction.
They also found that free recall of completed tasks was slightly better than recall of interrupted tasks. However, this is not surprising, given that the subject spends significantly more time both when solving the task correctly and when solving it incorrectly, compared to the time period spent completing the interrupted task.
In another study, American psychologist John Atkinson focused on the motivational aspects of task completion. He also found support for the Zeigarnik effect, but noted that memory for unfinished tasks was also affected by individual differences between participants. Atkinson came to the conclusion that those subjects who approached tasks with higher motivation to complete them try to solve as many of them as possible and, accordingly, the number of unfinished tasks under a time limit increases. In contrast, if the participant was less motivated, the unfinished task status was less interesting to the participant and therefore less memorable (Atkinson, 1953).
Another variant of the classic experiment was M. Ovsyankina’s study regarding the desire of subjects to return to completing an interrupted task.
Its essence was that subjects were given a simple task to complete - for example, putting together a figure from different elements. When the task was almost completed, the experimenter interrupted the participant and asked to perform a completely different action. At this time, the experimenter had to “neutralize the stimulus” - cover the stimulus material with newspaper, paper, cloth, etc. After the second action was completed by the participant, the experimenter had to pretend that he was very busy with something and did not hear the subject’s questions, but at the same time, had to observe him. It turned out that 86% of participants returned to the first activity that was interrupted at the beginning.
Levine, having read the results of this study, was initially outraged by why adults would return to performing meaningless and stupid tasks such as simply folding shapes. But then he came to the conclusion that the emotional and psychological stress that arises in the situation of solving a task of any complexity must be removed, otherwise our consciousness will constantly return us to this unfinished action. It was precisely this “charged” or tense system that Lewin called “quasi-need” or the intention to do something at the moment, which, in his opinion, differed from the true need that constantly exists in the human mind.
Closed gestalt and its place in the Zeigarnik effect
The discovery of the Zeigarnik effect in psychology became one of the starting points in the formation of the basic principles of well-being in the direction of Gestalt (German: Gestalt - holistic image). They come down to completeness and integrity, which create the basic prerequisites for a sense of personal satisfaction.
The basis for this belief is the peculiarity of the psyche, which consists in the fact that it is capable of translating only completed cases into experience. That is, relaxation occurs only after a completed image of the task or situation is formed. The absence of its logical ending entails the flow of energy in the direction that worries a person. Prolonged leakage and tension cause neurosis and other health problems. This state is referred to among specialists as “open gestalt.”
A little history or What is the effect of an unfinished action
The Zeigarnik effect, as it is correctly called in psychology, is one of the most discussed. Of course, he torments almost everyone every day!
Studies have shown that people remember interrupted activities much better than completed ones. Bluma Vulfovna Zeigarnik investigated this topic, as a result of which the identified feature of our memory was named after her.
Many psychologists later continued to work on this topic.
There is an assumption that the effect is caused by a feature of our nervous system: when some action is not completed, tension remains, the shock experienced by the nervous system prevents it from getting a release and, as a result, the action is stored in our memory.
A study among waiters showed that they remember orders that have not yet been brought, but they can no longer remember what people who just left ordered. Experiments among children showed that children who were interrupted in the middle of a creative task and who had unrealized potential in this task, at the first opportunity, tried to finish what they started.
Experimental study of the Zeigarnik effect
To confirm or refute the discovered phenomenon, Blum, together with his fellow student Maria Ovsyankina, organized a special experiment. During the test, the subjects were given various intellectual tasks. These included puzzles, arithmetic, clay modeling and building buildings from cardboard boxes.
During the experiment, the subjects were periodically interrupted, not allowing them to complete some task. They were told that the time to complete it had run out and were encouraged to move on to the next one. After completing the experiment, participants were asked to recall and describe the problems that needed to be solved. In 90% of cases, the tasks that were voiced were those that were not completed by the subjects. This confirmed Zeigarnik’s assumption that unfinished business receives a special status in our minds and cannot be completely forgotten until the moment of completion.
How the scientific experiment and research of Zeigarnik took place
The study was simple with volunteer participants. All volunteers were divided into two separate groups. One group of people were given tasks and allowed to complete them completely.
The second group was deliberately distracted and not allowed to complete the task. Then they were sent home. A few days later, participants in both groups were asked about the content of the tasks. Those people who were unable to complete the task remembered all the nuances of the tasks well. Those who managed to complete the task remembered the details very vaguely.
In another version of the Zeigarnik effect experiment, Bluma found that adult participants were able to remember uncompleted tasks 90% better than when they re-completed them. Zeigarnik's initial research was described in the article "On Completed and Unfinished Tasks", published in 1927. Further research by psychologist Zeigarnik - the effect of unfinished action.
Interesting to know!
At the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, where Professor B.V. Zeigarnik worked for many years, they sometimes recall a curious episode that occurred at the XIX International Congress of Psychology (London, 1969). A group of Soviet psychologists met their Japanese colleagues in an informal setting. Those, listening to the difficult-to-pronounce Russian surnames, politely smiled and nodded in the traditional oriental manner. And then they were presented with an elderly woman of small, almost doll-sized size. The expressions on the faces of the Japanese suddenly changed, the routine smiles were replaced by genuine amazement. And the youngest member of the Japanese delegation, forgetting about delicacy, naively exclaimed: “So you are Zeigarnik? Are you still alive?
In the 1960s, human memory researcher John Baddeley further explored these results in an experiment. Participants were given a limited period of time to solve a series of anagrams. When they were unable to solve the anagram before time ran out, the word "answer" was revealed to them. When participants were later asked to remember the word in anagrams, they had faster and better memory for the words they had not solved. This confirms B. Zeigarnik’s conclusion about the effect when people retain a clear memory of unfinished or interrupted activities and information.
How is the Zeigarnik effect used today?
This psychological phenomenon is successfully used by modern media and advertising agencies. It is on this that the desire to watch series to the end is based. Moreover, even in situations where the plot does not particularly correspond to a person’s personal interests, the desire to build a holistic image of what is happening in the mind pushes one to watch the next series.
By skillfully playing on the importance of unfinished business, marketers lead us to the transition on the Internet to the desired page offering a service or product. For example, they create a banner with an ad that breaks at the most interesting point. It is often difficult to resist reading a sentence to the end.
In personal life, this effect also finds its place in the development of relationships. For example, when, after meeting, interested lovers are forced to abruptly separate, they often cannot forget each other for a long time. The feelings that flared up in them found neither confirmation nor disappointment. They hung in the mind with a certain uncertainty that did not allow one to calm down and leave thoughts about the other person in the past.
Happiness, interrupted: the whole truth about the “Zeigarnik Effect.”
First half of the 20th century. The time of black and white photographs and the cult of Sigmund Freud. A young woman in her early 20s and a man about 10 years older went into a coffee shop, one of the predecessors of current chains like Strabac. The pleasant atmosphere, the aromas of well-roasted grains and fresh baked goods intoxicated the mind and invited me to give up all diets, succumbing to the high-calorie temptation. A student at the University of Berlin, Bloom, and her academic advisor, Kurt, sat down at one of the tables, which is designed for four. This was done automatically, everyone was informed about this by some feeling located closer to the stomach, and if it could speak, it would say: “Sitting at a table for two would not be the best idea for us.” establishing business relationships, and discussing new research" . Bluma and Kurt took their menus to have some refreshment before the discussion. Having chosen what everyone is used to eating in the middle of the day, Kurt called the waiter. The order was taken by a young man who looked to be about twenty-five years old. He greatly interested both the student Bluma and her teacher Kurt. Moreover, it was not a matter of appearance, but the fact that the waiter had taken about 7 orders before them, but did not write anything down, although, as you understand, the final list of dishes was extensive. After some time, he brought to the table everything that was ordered, without forgetting anything. Bluma complimented the young man on his amazing memory, to which he shrugged, saying that he never writes down and never forgets. The psychologists sitting at the table looked at each other, and Kurt asked the young man one more question. He asked the waiter to tell him what the visitors he had served before and who had just left the cafe had chosen from the menu. The waiter was confused and admitted that he didn’t remember anything, although not long before he had handed over every single order to the cook...
What happened to the waiter? Why did the young man, who seemed to have a phenomenal memory, forget everything? What kind of psychologists are Kurt and Bluma? And what does the “Zeigarnik Effect” have to do with it? More about this further...
So.
Bluma's student is Bluma Zeigarnik. It was she who discovered the very effect that will be discussed. She was born in 1900 in the north-west of the Russian Empire in the Lithuanian city of Prenai. A graduate of the Minsk Women's Gymnasium and the Faculty of Philology of the University of Berlin. In Germany, I was a student of the outstanding psychologist Kurt Lewin, who founded the theoretical part of the Gestalt approach, in which I work. After returning to the CCCP, Zeigarnik contributed to the founding of the Faculty of Psychology at Moscow State University. She founded Russian pathopsychology. Thus, the Gestalt approach is not just alien to the culture of the post-Soviet space, and, among others, stood at the origins of Russian psychology. Now a little about the scientific director Blooms Zeigarnik.
Kurt Lewin was born in 1890 in Prussia into a Jewish family. That is, the same roots as Frederick Perls, the founder of the practical part of the Gestalt approach. They and Bluma almost simultaneously dispersed across the superpowers. Only Zeigarnik did “back to USSR”, and Kurt, accordingly, “forward to USA”.
Based on Kurt Lewin's field theory, a person lives in a “psychological field” of the objects around him. That is, in the field of people and objects. Each of these objects has its own valency for me. For example, this text also has valency for you, my beloved reader. Possibly positive, which is expressed by interest and respect for its author, or maybe negative with corresponding feelings of irritation or anger.
In a word, all environmental objects have valences for us, which is felt through emotional tension. It requires release. The only question is what kind of tension this is and what actions it is directed towards.
Well, I wrote about the characters, let’s move on specifically about the “Zeigarnik effect” itself.
Just three words: Concept. Unfinished actions. This is what science calls the “Zeigarnik effect.” Why did I write the first word with a period? Because it is unnecessary. I don’t like the scientific genre of writing, predominantly replete with formalized definitions that integrate peculiar material, prospectively laid out in cognitively understandable terminological substances levels corresponding to the basic information level of the subject becoming familiar with them.
Yes, that’s why I don’t like scientific text.
Having worked for several years as a journalist in news services, I am accustomed to the fact that clarity of presentation is what attracts people to the screen, or makes them stay on the radio wave. So I want the Gestalt approach to become a radio wave, and not a distant scientific porridge for the elite.
Therefore, I discard the word “concept” as preventing me from establishing contact with the reader, and we are left with the fact that the “Zeigarnik Effect” explains the role of “incomplete actions” in a person’s life.
With the free presentation of the biographies of Zeigarnik and Levin, I had already forgotten the story with which it all began. So, a coffee shop, a student, a teacher and a waiter. So, it was then that Bluma Zeigarnik realized, using the example of a waiter, that a person best remembers an action that remains interrupted and unfinished.
After the story with the waiter, she and her colleague Maria Ovsyankina confirmed this hypothesis experimentally: people were given problems to solve and after a few days they were asked to remember what was there. Among those who remembered were mainly people who were interrupted while solving the problem. This pattern is called the “Zeigarnik effect.”
And now I propose to return from 1928 to 2013 and see how this effect can be applied “here and now” to make life better.
Anxiety is for me the main indicator that there is unfinished action in the client’s life. If I have something that is not completed, then it will not let me go, nor my memory, nor my perception of the present. I look at the present through the unfinished experience of the past and it is impossible to refuse it unless you complete it for yourself and let it go.
You can set yourself the task of forgetting all your unfinished situations, and many people do this. Many of those who then contact us, speaking with anxiety that life is not going the way we would like, that feelings are dulled, that desires are somehow unreal, work is normal, but especially convenient freedom does not bring, the family somehow lacks intimacy, warmth, joy, love and affection. When all these important parts of life become grayish, it causes anxiety. Gray shades, suppressed feelings, lack of frankness first of all to oneself are the first symptoms that the “Zeigarnik effect” has already worked here. The first symptoms are that the past has not been let go, that the number of unfinished situations, unclosed gestalts is breaking records.
If this is familiar to me, then perhaps I still carry with me unfinished events of the past, which I try, again, unconsciously to complete, instead of receiving pleasure o t of life. From the present.
*I “tread on the same rake.” This is the “Zeigarnik effect”.
*I feel like something is missing for a full life. This is the “Zeigarnik effect”.
*I’ve already gotten married several times and it still doesn’t work out? The “Zeigarnik effect” lurked again. I am returning again to a situation that was once unfinished.
The “Zeigarnik effect” can appear in any part of my life and signals that there are incompletenesses that prevent me from living in the present, perceiving things as they are, “breathing deeply,” and having an interest in life, and not anxiety about it .
Incomplete actions create a tense, charged system inside. This is the same tension, anxiety with which clients come to me as a therapist. Under this tension there are feelings that strive to be lived, impulses that strive to be released.
A person always strives to complete the unfinished. This applies not only to memory, but also to perception. And here is the confirmation of my words:
I see a circle, a triangle and another triangle with three circles. But to be precise, I don’t see this, but I imagine that this is so. This is the “Zeigarnik effect”, which makes me strive to complete the unfinished. In fact, these are three bent segments, three corners, and also three black figures of a specific shape.
The psyche is created in such a way that a person wants the whole, wants completeness. This is harmony, integrity, or, in terms of authenticity and congruence.
When I first went to a psychologist, I didn’t feel whole. I saw a lot in life, in the family, inside myself, at work, in a number of situations, like three bent segments, three corners and three strange figures. Instead of building up to a complete picture, I was worried. Something was stopping me from building my life into something complete.
I didn’t understand my “Zeigarnik effect.” What I was running away from and not finishing. I didn’t complete 3 curves to the circle, because then too much truth would have been revealed, and it would have been very painful. This pain of unfinished situations of the past.
Not to run away, but to see, live and let go - this is the principle of my Gestalt therapy. Not clamping, but releasing. I am the most ardent opponent of the “Zeigarnik effect”. I want the brightness of the present, not the greyness of the unfinished past. And the three principles of Gestalt help with this:
— The relevance of feelings and desires. That is, to feel what is happening “here and now.”
- Awareness of what these feelings and desires are “here and now.”
- Responsibility for the fact that it is I who feel and desire all this, and not anyone else. And I want this “here and now.”
We “swallow” grievances, do not express anger, do not give freedom to tenderness and love. What's the result? Depression and breakdowns. The only question is when, where and on whom. A bomb of accumulated emotions can explode at any moment and for various reasons. If a person does not dare to express his opinion to someone significant, it is quite possible that at home he will “deservedly”, for the right reason, harshly punish the children.
Continuing to argue with your wife in your head when the situation is not relevant, worrying about disagreements in marriage when a divorce has already been filed, focusing on childhood grievances when you yourself are already an adult - these are the same unfinished situations.
Unexpressed feelings, unclear relationships and unspoken words, undone actions. They are the ones who can live in us for many years.
Therefore, in each specific case, I try to see behind the client’s request those situations that have not been resolved, which to this day he “pulls” with him, paying a huge number of bruises and bumps for what o can’t let her go. In my office I help to return to them and go through experiences, many of which remain, perhaps, as rudiments. There’s no need to finish them, it’s enough to just look honestly. My task is to find these situations, find a connection with current problems, get acquainted with these unfinished processes and provide support and assistance in understanding them. And then, together with the client, enjoy the new colors of life that he receives in return for the old shades of gray.
This was the whole truth about the “Zeigarnik Effect”, and also about how you can interrupt your happiness, or return it to yourself. This was “your online psychologist” Boris Nikiforov. Until next time 
—- If you need my psychological help, please contact me via private messages or internal mail.
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Books about the Zeigarnik effect
More information about the manifestation of this psychological phenomenon in life, as well as about research around it, can be found in the relevant literature:
- Bluma Zeigarnik "Patopsychology".
- Sergey Stepanov “Living psychology. Lessons from famous experiments."
- John Goth.
- Rolf Dobelli “Territory of Delusions. What mistakes do smart people make?
How to apply it in your life?
Improving the education process
If you are studying for an exam, break the process into blocks and prepare in advance. Interrupt each block not at a logical point (i.e., do not study the topic to the end), but in the middle of the educational material. Your brain will remember it much better. If you prepare in one night, you will have to cram all the knowledge in one go.
A similar approach can be used in other cases where you are studying any large amount of data. Divide it into parts and take short breaks between them. The brain will continue to process the information during these intervals, and you will remember it much better. Just a minute gap is enough to get the desired result.
Conquering procrastination
We often put off tasks until the last moment, completing them in a frantic rush at the very last moment in order to meet the deadline. This tendency leads to significant stress and reduces productivity.
The Zeigarnik effect will help deal with this. Start with the first step, no matter how small it is or how little impact it has on the outcome. For example, open the project file you are working with. The result will be an unfinished action in relation to the entire task. According to the Zeigarnik effect, the brain will continue to think about the task. And it will be much easier for you to take the next step. And so on until you finish the entire project. Of course, you may not be able to do this in one sitting, but in any case, this is how you can overcome your procrastination.
How to get rid of:
1. Expression of feelings
Express your emotions and thoughts to another person who can support you.
2. Modeling
Act out a skit based on the theme. Imagine how the life situation that worries you could end. Live it mentally and put an end to it. Take a person you trust, family, friends as an assistant.
3. Transfer
Addressing parallel situations in the present. In similar life situations, you can sometimes find the key to solving old problems.
4. Attention
Pay attention to pop-up images that relate to unclosed situations. Bring actions, memories and other details to the level of consciousness. In this way, the information you process will help complete the process.
5. Coming to terms with the situation
Stop fighting with yourself. That is, accept things as they are.
