THE ZEIGARNIK EFFECT
The Russian psychologist and theorist Bluma Zeigarnik (November 9, 1900–February 24, 1988) is best known for having discovered a phenomenon called the Zeigarnik effect. She first took an interest in the phenomenon when her professor, Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin, observed that waiters at a local eatery had better recollections of orders that had yet to be served than of those that had already been served. From that observation, she theorized that people have a tendency to remember things that are unfinished or incomplete. The Zeigarnik effect refers to the state of mental tension and unbalance caused by uncompleted tasks.
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