qualified, new self-image then pushed them to even greater heights of
conservation. Whether or not such an explanation is correct, a repeat
study done by Pallak indicates that this hidden benefit of the lowball
tactic is no fluke.
The experiment was done in summer on Iowans whose homes were
cooled by central air-conditioning. Those homeowners who were
promised newspaper publicity decreased their electricity use by 27.8
percent during July, as compared to similar homeowners who were not
promised any coverage or who were not contacted at all. At the end of
July, a letter was sent canceling the publicity promise. Rather than re-
verting to their old habits, the lowballed residents increased their August
energy savings to a stunning 41.6 percent. Much like Sara, they appeared
to have become committed to a choice through an initial inducement
and were still more dedicated to it after the inducement had been re-
moved.
HOW TO SAY NO
“Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Or, at least, so goes a
frequently heard quotation attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. But
what a very odd thing to say. Looking around, it is obvious that, quite
contrary to what Emerson seems to have suggested, internal consistency
is a hallmark of logic and intellectual strength, while its lack character-
izes the intellectually scattered and limited among us. What, then, could
a thinker of Emerson’s caliber have meant when he assigned the trait
of consistency to the small-minded? I was sufficiently intrigued to go
back to the original source of his statement, the essay “Self-Reliance,”
where it was clear that the problem lay not in Emerson, but in the
popular version of what he had said. Actually he wrote, “A foolish
consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” For some obscure reason,
a central distinction had been lost as the years eroded the accurate
version of his statement to mean something entirely different and, upon
close inspection, entirely silly.^20
That distinction should not be lost on us, however, because it is vital
to the only effective defense I know against the weapons of influence
embodied in the combined principles of commitment and consistency.
Although consistency is generally good, even vital, there is a foolish,
rigid variety to be shunned. It is this tendency to be automatically and
unthinkingly consistent that Emerson referred to. And it is this tendency
that we must be wary of, for it lays us open to the maneuvers of those
quence for profit.
But since automatic consistency is so useful in allowing us an econom-
Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D / 79who want to exploit the mechanical commitment consistency se-