Have you ever noticed the moment you no longer need a specific piece of information it seems to get deleted from your memory forever? What about the opposite phenomenon of never being able to forget something (or someone) you wish you could? Turns out there’s a name for that. It’s called “The Zeigarnik Effect” and we are going to talk all about it with Dr. Ritchie Sheridan, the Chair of the Psychology department at William Carey University.

In this week’s episode, Dr. Sheridan educates us on the Zeigarnik Effect, a psychological phenomenon (named after Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik) where incomplete topics are more easily remembered than completed ones. We explore the Effect’s relevance to various aspects of life, including business partnerships, personal relationships, and memory in general. The discussion touches on the importance of closure, conflict resolution, and the reconstructive nature of human memory. And for all of you hopeless romantics out there, we may very well have a psychological explanation for that feeling of “the one that got away”.

Check out this quality conversation on your platform of choice.

Special thanks to Dr. Sheridan for getting behind the mic with us and taking us to school!

Special thanks to Indicium for editing this episode!