Consistency

What is Consistency?

Consistency refers to agreement between a person’s beliefs, commitments, and actions, or stability across decisions. A preference for consistency can influence responses to later requests or conflicting information, but its strength differs between people.

Cialdini, Trost, and Newsom’s studies of preference for consistency developed a measure of this preference and tested its relationship with several social-influence effects. Consistency is not inherently irrational: it can support reliable behavior, while rigid consistency can conflict with a justified change of mind.

Example of Consistency

A team member who promises to send an update every Friday and then does so is acting consistently with the commitment. If the project ends, continuing to send an empty update merely because it was sent before would serve a different purpose: preserving the routine despite a changed situation. Consistency is useful when the action still fits the goal.