ticket—had been the critical factor. Once a stand had been taken, the
need for consistency pressured these people to bring what they felt and
believed into line with what they had already done. They simply con-
vinced themselves that they had made the right choice and, no doubt,
felt better about it all.
Before we see such self-delusion as unique to racetrack habitués, we
should examine the story of my neighbor Sara and her live-in boyfriend,
Tim. They met at a hospital where he worked as an X-ray technician
and she as a nutritionist. They dated for a while, even after Tim lost his
job, and eventually they moved in together. Things were never perfect
for Sara: She wanted Tim to marry her and to stop his heavy drinking;
Tim resisted both ideas. After an especially difficult period of conflict,
Sara broke off the relationship, and Tim moved out. At the same time,
an old boyfriend of Sara’s returned to town after years away and called
her. They started seeing each other socially and quickly became serious
enough to plan a wedding. They had gone so far as to set a date and
issue invitations when Tim called. He had repented and wanted to
move back in. When Sara told him her marriage plans, he begged her
to change her mind; he wanted to be together with her as before. But
Sara refused, saying she didn’t want to live like that again. Tim even
offered to marry her, but she still said she preferred the other boyfriend.
Finally, Tim volunteered to quit drinking if she would only relent.
Feeling that under those conditions Tim had the edge, Sara decided to
break her engagement, cancel the wedding, retract the invitations, and
let Tim move back in with her.
Within a month, Tim informed Sara that he didn’t think he needed
to stop his drinking after all; a month later, he had decided that they
should “wait and see” before getting married. Two years have since
passed; Tim and Sara continue to live together exactly as before. He
still drinks, there are still no marriage plans, yet Sara is more devoted
to Tim than she ever was. She says that being forced to choose taught
her that Tim really is number one in her heart. So, after choosing Tim
over her other boyfriend, Sara became happier with him, even though
the conditions under which she had made her choice have never been
fulfilled. Obviously, horse-race bettors are not alone in their willingness
to believe in the correctness of a difficult choice, once made. Indeed,
we all fool ourselves from time to time in order to keep our thoughts
and beliefs consistent with what we have already done or decided.
Psychologists have long understood the power of the consistency
principle to direct human action. Prominent theorists such as Leon
Festinger, Fritz Hieder, and Theodore Newcomb have viewed the desire
for consistency as a central motivator of our behavior. But is this tend-
44 / Influence