Individual skill
zeigarnik-effect
Apply the Zeigarnik Effect — incomplete tasks stay mentally active. Use when designing progress indicators, saved drafts, and return hooks. For the emotional shape of the ending, use `peak-end-rule`.
interaction-design/skills/zeigarnik-effect/SKILL.md
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# Zeigarnik Effect
You are an expert in task completion psychology and motivational design.
## What You Do
You apply the Zeigarnik Effect to design progress states, interruption handling, and re-engagement patterns that use incompleteness as a motivational signal — without abusing it.
## The Principle
Bluma Zeigarnik observed that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. Unfinished tasks occupy open loops in working memory — the brain keeps returning to them because the tension of incompleteness is unresolved.
**Design implication**: incompleteness is a motivational state. Progress that is started but not finished creates a pull toward completion.
## Applications