The Zeigarnik effect is the tendency to remember interrupted or incomplete tasks more readily than completed ones. It is named for the Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, who first studied the phenomenon in the 1920s after her doctoral advisor, Kurt Lewin, noticed that a waiter could recall the details of unpaid orders far better than orders that had already been settled. In her experiments, participants who were interrupted while working on a task were substantially more likely to recall the task details afterward than participants who had been allowed to finish, and the effect has since been studied as a window into how unresolved goals keep occupying working memory.
Facts
Core ClaimZeigarnik began the study after Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin noticed a waiter recalled unpaid orders better than paid ones, and explained the advantage through Lewin's field theory: an unfinished task keeps a task-specific tension active that improves the accessibility of its contents. 1 First Described Year Classification
Type of Phenomenon Connections
Associated With
First documented the effect bearing her name: that people recall interrupted or incomplete tasks better than completed ones.
In Branch
Source Wikipedia: Zeigarnik effect
Source Wikipedia: Zeigarnik effect
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Zeigarnik effect
Wikimedia Foundationlead paragraph, definition
In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect (named after Lithuanian-Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik) postulates that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
lead section, defining sentence
In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect (named after Lithuanian-Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik) postulates that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
origin/history passage
The research report was published in 1927, in the journal Psychologische Forschung.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect (named after Lithuanian-Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik) postulates that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
In Branch: Educational Psychology, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Zeigarnik effect' is filed under Category:Educational psychology.
In Branch: Cognitive Psychology, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Zeigarnik effect' is filed under Category:Cognitive biases.
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