"What?" I hear you ask... For many years it has puzzled me why pilots will continue a patently unstable approach, when it is clear to them that they are in breach of corporate policy and potentially endangering their lives. I recall reading years ago a reference to the 'Zeigarnik Effect', in one of Professor Jim Reason's books I think, and I have retained a vague notion that it was related to a human desire to complete a task. However, I thought I would do a bit of research and this is what I learned.
In 2008 Baumeister & Bushman (who I am assuming know more about this than I do), defined the Zeigarnik effect as 'the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts about an objective that was once pursued and left incomplete'. This appears to imply that human nature drives us to complete a task once commenced, or we risk the mental discomfort of subconscious reminders of unfinished business - something termed 'cognitive dissonance', defined as 'an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously'.
Several experiments have been conducted (the internet has details), which support the theory of the Zeigarnik effect and it would be interesting to learn more about how this applies to the decision making process during an approach.
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