Started by Hannah Kim (@hannahk_ux) ·
why unfinished things nag at you
5 sources · 22 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Why can't I stop thinking about unfinished tasks?
- Ended at
- “zeigarnik effect replication meta-analysis”
The Trail
- “zeigarnik effect waiter” (google.com)
- Zeigarnik effect (en.wikipedia.org)
- Bluma Zeigarnik (en.wikipedia.org)
- Kurt Lewin (en.wikipedia.org)
supposedly noticed a waiter who remembered unpaid orders perfectly and forgot them the moment they were paid
- “zeigarnik effect replication meta-analysis” (google.com)
What I came away with
Zeigarnik's 1920s finding was that interrupted tasks are remembered better than finished ones. That memory part hasn't replicated very consistently. The sturdier bit seems to be that unfinished goals keep tugging at your attention, which is exactly what profile completeness bars and 'you're 80% done' emails are built on.
Keep going
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