What is the Zeigarnik Effect?
In the daily rush, we all leave some works, moments and therefore memories unfinished. The mind remembers such situations more easily than completed events. This incompleteness gives rise to a feeling of discomfort that increases over time. When it is thought that we have to keep up with many tasks at the same time, it is inevitable that this syndrome is experienced by everyone. The functional structure of people, which is among the most important benefits of modern life, brings along a tiring life. The problems created by this and countless other situations and their solutions are explained by the science of psychology. Ways to get rid of this syndrome and continue with your life are explained.
The Zeigarnik Effect, which proves the existence of Gestalt Theory and Principles, which is one of the most important theorists of psychology, is present in perceptual and cognitive effects. We act with the feeling of uneasiness created by this situation. Unfinished loves, daily chores or procrastination are constantly spinning around in our head. We want to finish them and continue our work. Explaining the Zeigarnik Effect brings with it a solution to procrastination. It is considered as the response of the brain to unfinished work.
What is the Zeigarnik Effect?
The Zeigarnik Effect, also known as the Unfinished Syndrome, refers to the fact that individuals remember incomplete things more easily than completed tasks. It defines why we constantly remember our unfinished relationships. Our recollection of unfinished love is an effect that connects the cause-effect relationship between leaving the holiday and returning home. This situation, which keeps your brain busy all the time, is the harbinger of the syndrome. It is a very difficult situation to live with the thought that unfinished events should be remembered and completed. Unfinished business in our minds prevents us from continuing our lives. Thinking about the unfinished business while doing something causes concentration problems. It presents an inefficient process as one of the keys to efficiency is focus.
How Was the Zeigarnik Effect Discovered?
The Zeigarnik Effect was interestingly discovered by the Russian Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, born in 1901. The scientist's inspiration is the waiters. They go to the restaurant of the University of Berlin with a group of psychologists, including Professor Kurt Lewin, his doctoral thesis advisor and also the founder of Positive Psychology. Zeigarnik notices a gason trying to take all the orders. The waiter tries to remember the orders without writing them down on paper. It can complete orders during the service process. When Zeigarnik could not stand it any longer and asked the waiter how she did it, his answer was surprising. The waiter said that after he delivered the orders, she erased these mental notes from his mind. Later, Zeigarnik and Lewin, with an irresistible sense of curiosity, decide to experiment with the subject.
Zeigarnik and Lewin find that unfinished business occupies the mind. She makes determinations that completed works cause a feeling of relaxation. Zeigarnik turns this determination into an experiment by giving 138 children arithmetic problems and puzzles. The puzzles are taken back after the children have completed half of what they have. When Zeigarnik probes the children's memory an hour later, she realizes that he remembers better what she left unfinished. In her experiment with adults, it turns out that they also remember tasks they couldn't finish 90% better than those who did. The research report prepared by Lewin and Zeigarnik as a result of their experiments was published in the Psychologische Foschung Journal in 1927. After numerous attempts, she finds that it is from cognitive tension arising from the need to keep the task in mind. This happens in a healthy way with the effect of motivation, expectation of reward and desire to succeed.
What are the Zeigarnik Effect Prefixes?
Bluma Zeigarnik, after whom the syndrome is named, continues his experiments to test hypotheses. Achieves results on an average of 20 simple tasks such as stringing beads, puzzles, and solving math problems.
Bead Stringing Experiment: Zeigarnik challenges a group of participants to string beads 15 times. During the event, she prevents him from stringing the beads in 3 randomly chosen ones. She directs the other beads to string. After a while, she asks the subjects which bead sequence they remember. Subjects indicate that they did not forget the sequence they left unfinished.
Novel Experiment: It is carried out with two different groups. Se gave the first group time to complete the tasks that needed to be completed before the experiment. In the second, it starts the experiment without giving this time. Participants are asked to read novels during the experiment. As a result, it is seen that the first group, who was given time to complete the works, understood the novel better than the others. The second group has difficulty concentrating.
Puzzle Completion Experiment: This experiment is performed by Kenneth McGraw about 60 years after the effect was proven. A group of subjects is asked to complete the puzzle in exchange for money. Because the money is given before the puzzle is finished, some people think the experiment is over and leave the environment. However, the experiment begins later. The remaining people take the money and continue to puzzle.
Anagram Experiment: Performed in the 1960s by a memory researcher named John Baddeley. Participants are given answers to the anagrams they cannot finish and are asked to say the words they do not remember. It is seen that the incomplete ones are remembered instead of the ones that are completed successfully.
Reasoning Experiment: In an experiment conducted by Kenneth McGraw and Jirina Fiala in 1982, participants are interrupted before completing their task. 85% of the subjects say they want to continue their task even after the experiment is over.
