Consistency is one of Robert Cialdini’s 6 principles of compliance. Compliance is when a person does something that they do not have to do. This refers to doing something for someone else who does not have the authority to make you obey. In Robert Cialdini’s model, there are 6 principles that govern whether a person will be persuaded to do something for the other party. These 6 principles are reciprocation, consistency, social validation, scarcity, liking, and authority. This article will cover how the principle can be used, and often is used, in persuading people to do things they may not want to do.
Consitency
The way consistency in persuasion works is that people want to remain consistent at all times within their thoughts. People strive to be consistent. Whether it’s staying stuck in a job with no real discernable benefit or going through with promises without return, people want to remain cognitively consistent at all times. Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory heavily supports this. This theory suggests that feeling inconsistent tends to make people feel uncomfortable, like cognitive dissonance. When people think of one thing, and the situation does not agree with those thoughts, people feel inner turmoil, as they strive to make their thoughts consistent with reality. It’s the same for personal thoughts. The drive to restore consistency is almost similar to the process of homeostasis within the body, trying to maintain a proper level at all times. Of course, the need for consistency can be powerfully used to persuade people to do things they do not need to do.
Putting your ‘foot in the door’
One example of using consistency in persuasion is the ‘foot in the door technique’. This is when someone asks a very small request and after the person has already agreed to it, follows it up with a larger request. To maintain consistency, people are more likely to agree to the larger request after agreeing to the smaller request, even if they would have declined the larger request were it said first. The desire to remain consistent showcases itself in that the person has already agreed to help with a request. To deny at that point would be inconsistent, which is not a good feeling.
This has been studied in multiple studies. One such study is one conducted by Freedman and Fraser. In this study, they asked 36 participants whether they would be willing to do a phone survey which would last 2 minutes. All participants agreed. Around 3 days later they asked “All of the information you gave was so useful, and we were glad you agreed to do our survey. We need a bit more from you, is it okay if a team of researchers comes to your house and catalog what kind of stuff you buy. Despite the very creepy request, 53% of people agreed. When the researchers did not ask about the 2-minute survey beforehand, compliance for this request was 21%.
Bait and switch
Another method of persuasion that uses consistency is the bait and switch. This is where you give an inducement to commit to something, but when they commit, you remove the inducement. Regardless of the original incentive not being there, people still feel compelled to commit due to remaining consistent. This is a common tactic in sales, where a seller advertises or sells a certain product, but ‘forgets’ to mention that there is limited stock. This means, that when the customer arrives at the store, they will be faced with similar options, which are more expensive. However, due to the feeling of needing to stay consistent, they still end up buying something similar to what they wanted at a higher price. This is typically also a very common strategy for toys during christmas.
Low Balling
Low balling is probably a more common example of using consistency than the bait and switch. It is very often used in sales, as a method of first getting a customer to commit, or to decide to buy something, and then amp up the price. Let’s say you want to buy a computer because of it’s low pricing, and the salesperson lets you try one for a day. You will then try the computer, and people will tend to rationalize why they decided on this computer while using it. It may be light, has a good screen, or more things. Later, the salesperson says he made a mistake, saying that the customer would also have to pay for chargers and the other parts of the computer. Despite initially wanting the computer for the low price, people will usually rationalize that they are buying for the quality of the computer. This means they will ultimately buy the same product for a larger price due to consistency
How are you feeling?
Another example of consistency is the ‘how are you feeling’ technique. Charities often use this. If you’re in a bad mood, you’re likely to not want to give a donation, right? So, very often when charities call you, they start with ‘how are you feeling’? The social response would be to say “I’m well thanks”, or “couldn’t be better”. However, once you’ve said this, the caller will often continue with “glad to hear that. Sadly though, there are many other less fortunate than you… etc”. And you’re trapped. You can’t pretend to stingy and unhappy anymore because you’ve said you were fine. This is another example of consistency in use. This is an example of emotional consistency. It is possible to use people’s emotions to coax them into thinking a certain way, or feeling pressured to be consistent in their feelings. This way, charities, and other organizations are much more easily able to gain responses and people to help out with different favors.