ON FINISHED AND UNFINISHED TASKS By Bluma Zeigarnik "Über das Behalten von erledigten und unerledigten Handlungen," Psychologische Forschung, 1927. 9 An intention implies not so much a predetermined opportunity

An intention implies not so much a predetermined opportunity for its realization as it does a need or quasi-need whose dynamic state of tension makes opportunines.1 !erefore it may be asked whether such a need functions only to accomplish this task or whether the state of tension also in"uences other aspects of the person's behaviour. In the present study we shall investigate the in"uence of such tensions upon an achievement of memory. Speci#cally we shall seek to answer the question: What is the relation between the status in memory of an activity which has been interrupted before it could be completed and of one which has not been interrupted ? We suspect that an unsatis#ed quasi-need probably does in"uence even purely memorial retention. !e experiments reported here were conducted with 164 individual subjects (students, teachers, children), and in addition there were two group experiments (47 adults, 45 children). Procedure.—!e instructions were : " I shall give you a series of tasks which you are to complete as rapidly and correctly as possible."2 !e subject was then given from 18 to 22 tasks one at a time—but half of these were interrupted before he could complete them. !e order and type of interruption was such that no one could suspect the reason. For example, two tasks would be interrupted, then two allowed to reach completion, one interrupted followed by two completed, etc. Following the last task the experimenter asked, "Please tell me what the tasks were upon which you worked during this experiment."3 No time limit was imposed during the subject's report. A record was kept noting the order of recall. Very o$en a number