Zeigarnik Effect
Gestalt psychology is an early 20th century theory of human perception that says, in essence, we pay closer attention to broad patterns and relationships and only secondary attention—or periodic focused attention—to individual units of a larger collection of connections.
So instead of perceiving things as singular things—an apple, for instance—we think in terms of objects sitting on a table, a table inside a house, the gravity holding those objects in place on the Earth, the light and shadows cast in different portions of the room, angles and shapes that line up with and cause disarray within patterns, objects that are edible and non-edible, the contrasts and similarities between colors and textures, and understandings as to how our actions might change the space we occupy: how picking up the apple would feel, how taking a bite would taste, how removing the apple would change the aesthetics and vibe of the room.
We look for patterns and closure and symmetry and continuity, but we also look for means of processing information more efficiently, which sometimes means looking for connections and correlations that might help us shortcut our way to understanding by assuming the shape of something based on the connections it has with other things.
Within the big-picture conception of Gestalt psychology, there’s a more specific theory related to interactions (and potential interactions) between the observer and the environment—or field—they occupy.
This "Field Theory" posits that it's possible to understand a person's behavior by assessing the space they occupy and then understanding the relationships between the things in that space, including the individual.
Importantly, this so-called field they occupy includes not just the room where they're standing or the table and apple upon the table, but the entirety of relationships and forces influencing them at that moment.
So this can include fundamentals like gravity, but also concerns about their relationship with their spouse or child, ideas about how to complete a project at work, and general understandings about philosophy, morality, and their deeply held faith-based belief system.
In essence, you should be able to understand and even map out all of the dynamics between a person and their field, and thus completely understand and be able to precisely describe that person through these relationships.
The Zeigarnik Effect is an even more specific concept within Field Theory and Gestalt psychology.
It says that someone who has been interrupted in an action or activity will be more likely to recall that activity later (at least for a while), and may also be more likely to complete that activity, compared to someone who wants to accomplish the same but who doesn't get started on it, first.
The theory is that a person's relationships with all the things in their environment and their perception of that grand collection of dynamics will tug at their mind if they leave something unfinished, based on their perception of what “finished” looks like.
If I'm keen to eat the apple sitting on my table, I might take a few bites and then be pulled away by a phone call or a neighbor knocking at my door.
The Zeigarnik Effect says that I'll be more likely to remember that half-eaten apple, and more likely to go back and finish it than would be the case had I not started eating it first, before I was pulled away by other concerns.
This incompleteness creates tension in my mind, even if not consciously, because the relationships between things are unsettled and will remain unsettled until I finish that task and reset things into a new alignment that matches my previous envisioning of what things will look like when I’m done with the apple—I need closure.
This effect, like Gestalt psychology and Field Theory are not the only way of sorting out these dynamics and describing humans and other entities, and they clash with some other theories on the matter because they're predicated on that grander idea that the relationships between things in a person's environment concretely shapes their state of being in a fundamental way, and this is far from proven or even widely accepted.
It is an interesting idea to consider and a useful concept to be aware of, though, as it has informed some approaches to gamification and similar tricks that are used to incentivize certain behaviors within games and apps and systems that nudge us toward completing a purchase or buying more things from a given purveyor (like rewards programs and well-timed notifications on our phones) and may thus partially explain some of the motivation we feel to complete tasks and rituals that aren't necessarily in our best interest.
Paid Brain Lenses subscribers receive twice as many essays and podcast episodes each week. They also fund the existence and availability of all the free stuff.
You can become a paid subscriber for $5/month or $50/year.
You can also support all my work (and receive gobs of bonus content) via Understandary.