The Zeigarnik effect is the name of the phenomenon according to which we remember unfinished actions much better than those that have been completed. What is it connected with? How does the effect affect our lives?
This phenomenon, widely known in psychology, was discovered in the 1920s by our compatriot Bluma Zeigarnik.1when she was an intern in Berlin with the famous psychologist Kurt Lewin. Once, in a cafe, Levin drew her attention to a strange regularity. The waiter perfectly memorized all the details of the order, without even resorting to notes. But after completing it, he could no longer remember what exactly the previous visitors had ordered.
This observation gave impetus to a serious experiment, during which Zeigarnik established and described in her thesis an important feature of our memory: we remember incomplete actions much better, about twice as much, than those that were completed.
If the task was set and not completed, our brain continues to remind us of this, and we involuntarily return to it again and again with our thoughts. This effect manifests itself in our lives at every step.
Zeigarnik effect and multitasking
Much has been written about the fact that multitasking interferes with the brain to work productively and provokes stress. This is directly related to the Zeigarnik effect. The to-do list that you keep in your mind is essentially a list of unfinished tasks that your brain cannot turn off and constantly reminds you of. As a result, you can not focus on the business that you are currently busy with.
The best way to cope with this kind of stress is to “materialize” your mental plan by “uploading” it to paper, computer or phone. In this way, you kind of “convince” your brain that these tasks will be completed a little earlier or a little later, and it stops bombarding you with reminders of them.
Waiting for a reward
The Zeigarnik effect is manifested in the fact that the brain reminds us of the unfinished task. But it doesn’t help us get started. Thinking about a task and rolling up your sleeves to act are two different things, although the former precedes the latter. And here we are primarily affected by another factor – the expectation of a reward.
Suppose you have two tasks: read a textbook and watch a movie. Periodically, the brain reminds you of these undone things. But which one you complete depends on what reward you expect from them and which one you prefer. For most of us, it is preferable, that is, more enjoyable, to watch a movie than to sit over a textbook. And most likely, we will postpone the second task under various pretexts.
If the task before us is difficult enough, and we fall into procrastination, not knowing where to approach it, the best way is to start at least with something. Preferably – from the lightest. The job has been started, so it will be finished.
Obsessive melodies and enticing series
Another manifestation of the Zeigarnik effect is a melody that sounds in our head, from which it is impossible to get rid of. Suppose we heard a certain song. But it was not possible to remember it in its entirety, only a small fragment scrolls endlessly in our memory. Why is this “stuck” happening?
For our brain, a song that we have not fully remembered is an unfinished action. He repeats the fragment known to him in an attempt to “finish” the song in its entirety. But this is impossible, since it has not been deposited in memory.
If we listen to the song again and again and finally remember it all, the brain will consider the task completed and save us from obsession.
By the way, the Zeigarnik effect can also explain the dependence on TV shows that millions of people fall into. At the end of each episode, the screenwriter prescribes the so-called “hook”: this is some kind of intriguing situation (mystery, threat, obstacle), the outcome of which can only be known from the next episode.
The hero falls off a cliff, the heroine faints after receiving some kind of letter, the helicopter on which the heroes are flying begins to fall … Even if the series did not really captivate the viewer, something pushes him to find out the continuation – in other words, he gets on this one ” hook”. We need the action to complete!
1 Bluma Volfovna Zeigarnik, Soviet psychologist, founder of Russian pathopsychology, one of the founders of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov.