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.
Completion
Bluma’s work turned out to be fundamental, serving as the basis for the formation of one of the principles of Gestalt - completeness, integrity. This term is often used in psychology, and almost every direction of psychotherapy strives to help the individual realize the moments that were interrupted in order to relieve tension and finally finish what was started. So, be aware of your gestalts, close them and be happy!
We also recommend that you read the article in which we will tell you how to develop edetic memory.
The material was prepared by psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Alina Zhuravina
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.
Explanation of the phenomenon
Zeigranik herself explained the occurrence of this phenomenon due to motivating factors. That is, the personality is overcome by the need to complete what has been started. Moreover, motivation can differ significantly for everyone. For example, some people agreed to the experiment in order to test their capabilities and get to know themselves better. Part - to help science, at least somehow coming into contact with its development. And someone just wanted to have fun and decided to participate, simply relying on their passion.
There are a lot of reasons that can be given, but in any case, each participant had a motive according to which he completed the tasks and reached the end. At the moment of interruption of activity, it turned out that his intention, according to which he gave all his best, turned out to be unfulfilled. This creates tension, which is completely justified. So much effort has been put in and all in vain. It is then that such an intention remains in memory in order to find an opportunity to be realized in the future.
Kurt Lewin called such an intention a quasi need, that is, different from a true need, being, as it were, secondary. Its purpose is to relieve the resulting tension of incompleteness. Why will a person unconsciously reproduce similar situations in life until he manages to discharge himself. It was for this reason that the subjects voluntarily returned to the task at which they were interrupted if there was a short break between tasks.
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.”
When the situation reaches its logical conclusion, the tension in the memory, according to the Zeigarnik effect, goes away, making room for pleasant sensations. But you shouldn’t hysterically try to achieve such a result on your own, because sometimes it’s simply impossible to close the gestalt on your own. For example, when a choice in the past has already been made, it is impossible to change it and the resulting consequences that haunt you. In this case, only a specialist will finally help the person, using different methods of completing the image (games and others).
Nuances of the phenomenon
In 2006, scientists in Mississippi conducted an experiment similar to what Zeigarnik came up with. Only the task was a little different. Experimenters studied the effect of reward anticipation on job performance. It turned out that the effect loses its strength under additional conditions. The subjects were divided into two groups. The first was told that they would definitely pay for their work, but the second was not promised anything. After they were not allowed to finish the task, but were given a new one, during the break, 86% of the participants who did not expect money chose to return and finish what they started. While 58% of the subjects who were waiting for payment were satisfied with what they managed to do.
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.
Rosenzweig's study
Saul Rosenzweig conducted an interesting experiment. His results turned out to be slightly different from those obtained by Bluma. He made changes to the testing procedure, telling participants that the experiment was aimed at studying their mental abilities. This completely changed the situation. Since now the subjects have replaced tasks that they could not, or did not have time to cope with. They remembered only those that they managed to complete successfully. Nobody wanted to admit that they were stupid, excessively slow and incapable of complex intellectual work.
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.
Modern adaptation
It may seem to a modern person that the discoveries of psychologists made several decades ago are not particularly significant in everyday reality or in virtual space. What B. Zeigarnik, M. Ovsyankina and even K. Levin did, their experiments, which confirmed earlier assumptions, and even Gestalt psychology created later as a separate direction, seem to confirm an outwardly obvious postulate: a person is designed in such a way that he receives pleasure from completing work and assigned task.
Zeigarnik effect. Photo: b17.ru
But his obsessive desire to return to the unfinished is successfully used not only by advertising agencies, print and virtual media, but also by the creators of websites, online stores and promotions.
The most obvious example of the skillful use of the Zeigarnik effect is the endless series that are watched by millions of people on the planet. Some of them simply watched a couple of episodes to find out what the multi-part epic was about. But then they began to look further to find out how it all ended. By ending each episode at the most interesting point, the filmmakers use an open gestalt. It encourages a person to close the image, but each series still leaves it unfinished, creating a dynamic field.
The Zeigarnik effect is used by marketers - they place announcements and announcements that are interrupted at an interesting or unexpected place:
- a person involuntarily goes to the page they need, because tension is created, forcing him to bring what he started to its logical conclusion;
- another example is the shopping cart at the beginning of the site, which forces even those who just came to look at the displayed goods to buy;
- the media cleverly use a catchy headline with ellipses to force the reader to read the publication;
- using an indicator or tracker increases website conversion by forcing the user to complete the task.
The achievements of psychology can be applied in the most unexpected directions or present in any aspect of human life.
The most obvious example of the Zeigarnik effect is falling in love that has not received any continuation. A person can remember it throughout his entire life.
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?
The phenomenon of incompleteness in love
Often we cannot forget about this or that person with whom we had a romantic or friendly relationship, justifying ourselves and selecting various psychological effects as justification. The Zeigarnik effect can explain a lot of suffering in failed relationships, especially if there was no obvious separation and division of property between partners.
Therefore, it is strongly recommended not to break up with ex-lovers over the phone or the Internet. The injured party will not be able to fully realize that everything is over, and this phenomenon of incompleteness will lurk in the person’s subconscious, not letting go of the image of the former lover.
The same applies to relationships that are destroyed due to a sudden distance between people. For example, if one of the halves leaves to work in another city and gradually becomes weaned from a loved one, there must be a fact of separation during a personal meeting. Otherwise, such a “silent” breakup can have a painful effect on the subconscious of the injured party.
Sublimation
Sublimation is the redirection of impulses into more accessible or socially acceptable activities.
Often, due to the impossibility of completing an activity, a person redirects his energy to a more accessible action. In this case, the fox, from the previous classification, will prefer to quench his thirst by drinking water from a puddle, since grapes are not available to him. Only the situation with grapes remains unfinished. A person, like a fox, may prefer to eat salad when in fact he craves chocolate.
The end of relationships through sublimation occurs quite often and is the scourge of relationships. An example is the phenomenon when a person uses others to complete one relationship. Selects an object of relationship based on similar characteristics and qualities (but not necessarily). In any case, such relationships through sublimation can never be fully completed.
Death of a Man
A big difficulty is ending a relationship with a person who has died. There are many unsaid words, many unfinished actions. The grieving phase lasts one year at best, but rarely is anyone able to live through this phase completely. There can be many reasons for this.
During psychotherapy sessions, in the maximum permissible form, it is possible to end a relationship with a person who has died. This is a rather lengthy procedure, but it is possible.
Rationalization
Fox and grapes
One hot summer day, the fox was hunting, running many kilometers, but did not see a single bird, rabbit, or small mouse. At noon the sun began to burn very strongly, and the fox decided to look for a shady valley where his dusty, tired paws could rest. - “Oh, how I wish I had a cool, cool drink or some delicious fruit to quench my thirst,” - said the fox as her tongue hung out of her mouth.
A green garden loomed ahead - as fresh and brilliant as you could imagine. Hanging on a white plant stand were the most fragrant, juicy grapes she had ever seen. Round and purple large grapes hung in heavy clusters - just what the fox needed to cool down on this hot afternoon. Standing on his hind legs and becoming tall, the fox could not reach the sweet, juicy grapes. Then she accelerated and soared into the air, grabbing the bottom bunch of grapes with her mouth. But she missed. She didn't jump high enough to reach the bottom bunch. The fox tried again and again - and again and again. But every time she failed. Now she was so exhausted and so thirsty that she turned away and walked back.
Raising her leaf-covered tail high, the fox left the garden, muttering: “What sour grapes, ugh, so sour!” I didn’t want to eat it anyway!”
