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Hello! The power of influence of an unclosed gestalt on a person’s life can be easily explained and scientifically substantiated. Have there been times when you were tormented by the same situation, only because one day you did not know how to behave and simply preferred to avoid it? Or could not resolve the conflict with a partner and now in every new relationship you “stumble” on a similar problem? There is a zeigarnik effect, which means that a person remembers tasks better if at some point there was an interruption in actions and they remained incomplete. Those that have been successfully implemented disappear into the depths of memory and become so irrelevant that we can completely forget about them. Completeness is obligatory for our psyche, therefore, what we have not been able to cope with will be pursued until we are able to at least a little realize and “cover up” the issue.
History of occurrence
This effect was discovered by Bluma Vulfovna Zeigarnik. She was the founder of Russian pathopsychology and did a lot for the development of psychology, being a professor and doctor of psychological sciences. At about 24 years of age, Bluma attended Kurt Lewin’s courses. During this period, he studied the motives that push a person to commit any action. After graduation, he liked to spend his free time informally with his students. Not just to communicate, but for the benefit of science.
For example, they often played a “search game”, during which the girl made a discovery, which made a significant contribution to the development of science. Kurt decided to ask the waiter to list the dishes ordered by the group of people at the next table. Despite the large number of positions, the worker remembered everything. But I could not name a small order of those who had already paid. Explaining this by the fact that there was simply no need to keep in memory information that is no longer relevant. After all, the customers paid, what’s the point in remembering exactly what they ate and drank?
Experiment
The group of subjects was asked to perform various actions, the total number of which was approximately 22 tasks. They were simple and affected almost all the skills and abilities of the individual. Let’s say you had to put beads on a string, come up with a poem, cut and mold a box of paper, multiply three-digit numbers in your head, or show artistic abilities by drawing a vase.
The instruction said that it was necessary to cope with the tasks as quickly as possible and without errors. But the completion process was always violated by the experimenter. Most often it is in moments of complete concentration on work. He simply offered to move on to the next task. And to questions about what to do with those that did not have time to finish, he pretended not to hear anything. Why did the participants not have a clear picture of what was happening. But then, nevertheless, he allowed me to return to those that I did not have time to do in order to bring what I started to the end.
At the end of the test, everyone was asked to list which tasks they performed. And what do you think? About 90% of the subjects recalled precisely those that could not be completed the first time. The rest, made without barriers and interventions, were simply forced out of memory.
Explanation of the phenomenon
Zeigranik herself explained the emergence of this phenomenon due to motivating factors. That is, the personality embraces the need to complete what has been started. Moreover, the motivation can be significantly different for everyone. For example, some people agreed to an experiment to test their abilities, to get to know themselves better. Part — to help science, at least somehow in contact with its development. And someone just wanted to have fun and decided to participate, simply relying on their excitement.
There are a lot of reasons, 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 laid out, turned out to be unfulfilled. Why there is tension, which is completely justified. So much effort and all in vain. It is then that such an intention remains in the 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 tension that has arisen subsequently of incompleteness. Why a person will unconsciously reproduce similar situations in life until he manages to discharge himself. It is for this reason that the subjects voluntarily returned to the task at which they were interrupted if there was a short break between tasks.
Rosenzweig’s study
An interesting experiment was conducted by Saul Rosenzweig. His results were slightly different from those obtained by Bluma. He made changes to the testing procedure, telling the participants that the experiment was aimed at studying their mental abilities. This completely changed the situation. Since now the subjects have forced out tasks with which they could not, or did not have time to cope. They remembered only those that were successfully completed. No one wanted to admit that they were stupid, excessively slow and incapable of complex intellectual work.
The nuances of the phenomenon
In 2006, in Mississippi, scientists conducted an experiment similar to what Zeigarnik came up with. Only the task was a little different. Experimenters studied the effect of reward expectation 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, the second was not promised anything. After they were not allowed to complete the task, but were given a new one, then during the break, 86% of the participants who did not expect money preferred to return and still complete what they started. While 58% of the subjects who were waiting for payment were satisfied with what they managed to do.
Recommendations
This effect can be used to your own advantage. After all, as they say: «He who is warned is armed.» At least the media has long been manipulating the consciousness of the population with the help of unfinished actions. Think of any series. Each episode usually ends at the most interesting moment, causing an urgent need to see what happens next as quickly as possible.
So why not increase your own productivity by knowing this trick? It is worth at least starting work, pushing your procrastination away, if any. And then switch as a rest to another project. Or just take a break. Your subconscious will not give you the opportunity to avoid fate and will constantly remind you of what you could not complete.
Empty chair technique
In love, everything is a little more complicated, if it doesn’t work out to clarify the relationship with someone significant, this can cause a lot of anxiety. Which will negatively affect both self-esteem and health in general. But what if the former partner does not make contact, or if so much time has passed since then that it is not even known where to look for him? Or, in the worst case, if he is no longer alive? There is an empty chair technique. It is desirable, of course, to perform it in the presence of a psychotherapist, but you can try it yourself.
You should put a chair in front of you, on which to present the image of a significant person. And act depending on the stopped unrealized need. You can talk about your feelings and in general about what does not go out for some reason to declare in reality. On the contrary, you can ask a question and listen to your feelings in order to understand what really happened with your partner, that he behaved this way.
Be attentive to what is happening, to your every thought, emotion, notice what is happening with your body. Try to end it by apologizing, or by apologizing him. Allow yourself to be released from the accumulated anxiety and incompleteness of the process. Sit for a couple of minutes, returning to yourself in the here and now, letting go of the situation.
Also, we recommend reading the article about the Halo 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. In psychology, this term is often used, and almost every direction of psychotherapy seeks to help the individual realize the moments that were interrupted in order to relieve tension and still finish what they started. So, be aware of your gestalts, close them and be happy!
We also recommend that you read an article in which we will tell you how to develop an edetic memory.
The material was prepared by a psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Zhuravina Alina