Your intuition matches a distinction that many writers feel, but formal grammar guides usually treat it a bit differently.
The comma before the final and in a series is called the serial comma or Oxford comma:
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I bought apples, oranges, bananas, and pears.
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I bought apples, oranges, bananas and pears.
Both are grammatical in most varieties of English. Some style guides require the Oxford comma; others omit it except when needed for clarity.
As for your interpretation:
"...an ',and' indicates the list is complete, while its absence indicates there may be others..."
That's a reasonable rhetorical nuance, but it is not a standard grammatical rule. Most readers would not consciously infer completeness or incompleteness from the presence or absence of the Oxford comma.
If a writer wants to imply "these are examples rather than a complete list," English usually does that explicitly:
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such as apples, oranges and bananas
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including apples, oranges, and bananas
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apples, oranges, bananas, and other fruits
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apples, oranges, bananas, etc.
There is, however, a subtle effect from the conjunction itself. A list ending with and often feels more closed and complete than a list ending with etc., among others, or such as. But that feeling comes from the wording, not from the comma before and.
One place where the Oxford comma genuinely matters is ambiguity:
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I dedicate this book to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.
Without the Oxford comma, that can be read as if your parents are Ayn Rand and God.
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I dedicate this book to my parents, Ayn Rand, and God.
Now there are clearly three separate recipients.
So I would say your sense of and signaling a completed list has some basis in how English feels, but the presence or absence of the comma before and generally does not carry that meaning for most readers. It is mainly a style choice and occasionally a tool for avoiding ambiguity.
Ah, that's a different question, and I think you're onto something.
In formal grammar, a simple series without a final conjunction is often called asyndeton:
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apples, pears, apricots
while a series with a conjunction is:
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apples, pears, and apricots
The first is not usually analyzed as meaning "among others," but it often feels more open-ended, less ceremonially closed. The second has a stronger sense of completion because the conjunction signals that the final item has been reached.
Consider these examples:
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The museum contains paintings, sculptures, manuscripts.
Feels somewhat descriptive, perhaps even abbreviated. -
The museum contains paintings, sculptures, and manuscripts.
Feels like a complete inventory of the categories being discussed.
Or:
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He was intelligent, determined, resourceful.
A rhetorical accumulation of qualities. -
He was intelligent, determined, and resourceful.
More like a conventional list of three qualities.
Writers often exploit this effect. Omitting the final conjunction can make a list feel:
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faster,
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more literary,
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less exhaustive,
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more like a stream of examples or impressions.
Adding the final conjunction tends to make it feel:
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more deliberate,
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more complete,
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more formally structured.
So while I wouldn't say that "apples, pears, apricots" literally means "among others," I do think many readers would perceive it as somewhat less closed and less definitive than "apples, pears, and apricots."
In fact, your interpretation reminds me of the difference between a collector casually gesturing at the contents of a drawer—"buttons, coins, keys"—and an accountant enumerating them—"buttons, coins, and keys." The actual meaning may be identical, but the implied attitude toward completeness can be different.
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