Irresistible

When the 1969 film The Italian Job ended without a clear resolution, many filmgoers were furious. They wanted closure, not a cliffhanger ending. One study performed 40 years earlier showed that participants remembered unfinished tasks better than they remembered finished ones. Beginning a task established tension, which made the participants desire resolution. When they were denied the resolution, the task was more likely to linger in their minds.

Alter calls the tension that follows something unresolved the Zeigarnik Effect, after the psychologist who discovered it. Many experiences employ a Zeigarnik Effect, including popular songs, or “earworms” (194). The 1978 song, “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire, for example, hooks listeners because its chord progression does not resolve in the way that most pop songs do. Instead, the song’s chords continue in a loop without ever reaching a conclusion. This is perhaps one reason the song is still so popular to this day.

In a similar manner, the podcast series Serial gained popularity after it introduced its own kind of Zeigarnik loop, in which listeners were left endlessly guessing whether a convicted murderer was truly guilty or not. Even after the series’ end, there was no clear resolution. Groups formed online according to listeners’ beliefs, and when Reddit briefly suspended its Serial page, many listeners realized that they were truly addicted to the program. More shows and podcasts followed a similar format. The last scene of the television show, The Sopranos, for example, ends ambiguously, simply showing a black screen for several seconds. With such an ending, viewers had no way of definitively knowing whether the central protagonist, Tony Soprano, was assassinated or not. In response, many became angry with the show’s writer, David Chase.

A study that gave adults alternating rewards of juice and water found that the rewards were more pleasurable when given on an unpredictable schedule. When those in the study didn’t know when they would next receive a reward, they responded to each drop of juice they received as though it were its own cliffhanger. A shopping website called Gilt also utilizes the psychology of cliffhangers to make itself addictive. Because sales are announced without warning, users are constantly checking the site. Some of its users ultimately admit they have a problem.

In 2012, Netflix introduced a way for viewers to watch episodes of shows without having to press any play button. Instead, shows would continue to play automatically, one after the other. Such a small change has the power to significantly alter certain experiences. The rate of organ donors across several European countries varies drastically because potential donors are asked about their preferences in different ways. In countries where individuals were asked to check a box if they wanted to donate, the rate of donors was often very low. Meanwhile, in countries where people were asked to check a box if they did not want to donate, the rate of donors was very high. In both situations, most people simply went with the default decision.

The popularity of binge-watching on Netflix has risen in recent years. One report shows that 61% of adults binge-watch. Entire seasons of television shows are often consumed in four to six days, even when those shows are mediocre. 

Lucas Buick and Ryan Dorshorst released the app Hipstamatic in 2009. The app allowed users to alter photos they took with their phones and became a top app of the year according to the New York Times. Instagram was released a year later and offered a similar service, but by 2012, Instagram had a larger user base and was soon purchased by Facebook for 1 billion dollars. One of the reasons Instagram became more popular than Hipstamatic was because Instagram created a social network connected to the app. Hipstamatic users, by contrast, posted the photos they created onto other sites like Facebook.

Humans are social beings who constantly seek feedback, especially when it is inconsistent. Instagram provides users with inconsistent feedback in the form of varying numbers of likes per post. Though studies show that most people adopt positive ideas about themselves more easily than negative ideas, it’s also true that people are likely to remember bad events more strongly than positive ones. This often results in people taking hundreds of photos before posting on Instagram in order to avoid the negative experience of posting without receiving many likes.

In 2000, Jim Young and James Hong created a website called Hot or Not, which allowed users to rate the attractiveness of people on a one to ten scale. The site attracted millions of users and became addictive to many. Hot or Not incorporated an aspect of social feedback, just like Instagram, which contributed to its popularity. Users could compare their ratings to the ratings of others, feeding a need to be like others when their ratings matched, and a need to be different from others when their ratings were different.

Though “multi-user dungeon[s]” (or “MUDs”) (227), operate entirely through text, and lack the flashing lights and sounds that are typical of modern video games, they can be addictive simply because they incorporate a social element. Players often play the game alongside users all over the world, which can result in a sense of social obligation to the game.

As Hilarie Cash, one of the cofounders of reSTART, the center for video game and internet addiction explains, friendships formed online can’t provide the same level of engagement and nourishment that friendships formed in real life can. According to a neuroscientist named Andy Doan, a brain that has been raised on online relationships might never fully adjust to real-life interactions. Because studies show that young people spend an average of five to seven hours looking at screens every day, there is a high chance that such social difficulties are a widespread generational problem.