Zeigarnik effect

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Zeigarnik effect is a psychological effect on the memory of completed as opposed to interrupted tasks. It says that you can remember interrupted, unfinished tasks better than completed, completed tasks. This finding is surprising from a memory psychological point of view, since it also occurs when less time was spent on interrupted tasks than on completed tasks.

The memory advantage can be explained with the field theory according to Lewin : A started task then builds up a task-specific tension, which improves the cognitive accessibility of the relevant content. This tension is then released as the task is completed. In the event of an interruption, this voltage reduction is prevented. The ongoing tension makes the content more readily available and easier to remember.

This effect was first discovered experimentally in 1927 by the eponymous Russian psychologist Bljuma Wulfowna Zeigarnik at the University of Berlin .

However, the effect could not be replicated in many studies and is therefore considered to be an unreliable phenomenon. Often there was even an opposite effect. Possible explanations for this are not yet clear. For example, if the interrupting tasks are made too difficult, the test subject gets the feeling that the tasks are unsolvable and does not expect to finish the task. In addition, there are experimental errors of a memory-psychological nature, if the completed tasks are processed much longer than the interrupted tasks. In addition, it would be possible that self-portrayal tendencies lead to a tendency to talk about the tasks that have been completed and therefore to name them more easily.

See also

literature

  • Kiebel, Elizabeth M. (April, 2009). The Effects of Directed Forgetting on Completed and Incompleted Tasks. Presented at the 2nd Annual Student-Faculty Research Celebration at Winona State University, Winona MN. See PDF
  • Rothermund & Eder: Motivation and emotion. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3531166988 , pp. 40-41.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zeigarnik (1927): Keeping completed and unfinished business. Psychological research 9 , 1-85. electronic version (PDF; 5.1 MB).
  2. ^ Van Bergen, Annie (1968) Task interruption . Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. See also Kiebel, 2009
  3. ↑ Jutta Heckhausen: Motivation and Action. Springer 2006, ISBN 9783540254614 , p. 114. ( Google Books )