The Zeigarnik Effect, or Incomplete Gestalt

At the beginning of the twentieth century, psychology was one of the most vibrant, interesting and actively developing sciences. Psychology departments have not yet opened everywhere, but well-known psychologists, like Dr. House, assembled their teams of young and talented students with whom it would be interesting to discuss problems of psychology.

What time was it?

At that time, three main directions in psychology were developing: Z. Freud reported at meetings of psychoanalytic societies about his achievements in the field of psychoanalysis, D. Watson conducted experiments with animals and people, developing behaviorism, and Kurt Lewin studied his field theory within the framework of Gestalt psychology .

Kurt Lewin.

Psychoanalysis has already lost its attractiveness for young people. A complex, extremely controversial method that does not imply a quick visible result. Doesn’t sound very attractive. Behaviorism likened humans to animals. The main thing is to give the person the right stimulus, and you will get the right reaction. It sounds interesting, but somehow very cruel, and the experiments were mainly carried out on animals, not on people. The key concept of Gestalt psychology was, strictly speaking, Gestalt, insight that helps a person solve a problem and move to a new stage. At that time, this particular direction was considered the most promising and interesting for young psychologists. Here there was a field for experimentation and it was…