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Research on close relationships often focuses on the dyad (e.g., dyads of romantic partners) and on how dyad members affect each other's welfare. But dyads exist embedded in broader, densely-interconnected social networks, and less research attention has been paid to the myriad ways in which people outside the dyad impact one's welfare through their interactions with, or even their attitudes about, the other member of the dyad. What drives our feelings toward such extra-dyadic individuals? Balance Theory, an influential formalist theory in social psychology, suggests that our feelings are driven by the need for affective balance, achieved by, for example, liking strangers who share our feelings toward our existing partners or by disliking strangers who do not. We propose an alternative theory, the Embedded Dyad Framework, which foregrounds the substantive effects that strangers can have on our welfare through their interactions with our dyadic partners. Across four experiments (N = 1589) with U.S.-residing participants we predict and find, consistent with the Embedded Dyad Framework, that we like strangers who share our hatred for our rivals and our love for our friends (consistent with Balance Theory); but we dislike strangers who share our love for our spouses (contradicting Balance Theory). Further supporting predictions from an Embedded Dyad Framework, (a) greater perceived exclusivity in welfare-enhancing dyadic relationships (e.g., friendships) drives our lesser liking of strangers who share our love for our partners, and (b) greater perceived welfare suppression by our antagonistic partners (e.g., rivals) drives our liking of strangers who share our hatred of our antagonists. This framework outpredicts cognitive consistency views by emphasizing the real threats and opportunities that dyadic relationships afford people when dyads are embedded in social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we identify and compare the arguments offered by two leading Ottoman public intellectuals in the nineteenth century, Namık Kemal and Ziya Gökalp, on why Western institutions are compatible with those of their own society. We argue that these arguments exemplify patterns of reasoning, identified by cognitive social psychologists, which purport to resolve inconsistencies that arise in individuals' belief structures. We draw two conclusions from this analysis. Our first conclusion is that the ideas of Ottoman political thinkers, like those of their Western counterparts, constitute a domain of evidence for research in cognitive social psychology. We secondly conclude that political theories have resources to overcome ideological conflicts in a society without resorting to partisanship or utopianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • At all levels of information processing in the brain, neural and cognitive structures tend towards a state of consistency. • Models and theories consistent with the principle of consistency are numerous, have a long and continuing history, and come from many different scientific areas concerned with the behaviour of animal and man. • All behaviour involving cognitive processing is proposed to be caused by the activation of inconsistent cognitions and to function to increase perceived consistency. Abstract At all levels of information processing in the brain, neural and cognitive structures tend towards a state of consistency. When two or more simultaneously active cognitive structures are logically inconsistent, arousal is increased, which activates processes with the expected consequence of increasing consistency and decreasing arousal. Increased arousal is experienced as aversive, while the expected or actual decrease in arousal as a result of increased consistency is experienced as rewarding. Modes of resolution of inconsistency can be divided into purely cognitive solutions, such as changing an attitude or an associated motor plan, and behavioural solutions, such as exploration, aggression, fear, and feeding. Models and theories consistent with the principle of consistency are numerous, have a long and continuing history, and come from many different scientific fields, such as social psychology, perception, neurocognition, learning, motor control, system control, ethology, and stress. The present paper presents a brief overview of relevant information from these fields of research, while focusing mainly on the implications of the principle of consistency for the understanding of the cause and function of behaviour. Based on this overview, it is proposed that all behaviour involving cognitive processing is caused by the activation of inconsistent cognitions and functions to increase perceived consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friendship is a selected relationship and continued on preferences. The phenomenon of friendship is studied in different disciplines such as sociology, psychology and social psychology in social sciences. In this study, some theories about the formation and development of friendship are discussed. Basically, these theories focus on understanding and explaining friendship. There are two different approaches theorizing the friendship, namely the great friendship theory and the modern friendship theory. Modern theory includes reinforcement theories, exchange and equity theories, cognitive consistency theories, developmental theories, like attracts like theories and the sociological perspective. Some theories have been put forward for the formation and development of friendship. These theories are aimed at understanding and explaining friendship. The first explanations for friendship are based on ancient philosophers and these views are called 'great friendship' theories. There is a historical approach in this view. Another theory of friendship is the theory of 'modern friendship'. The theories in this approach are based on social psychology and sociology. In the great friendship approach, friendship is idealized and it is thought to be only among men, whereas in the modern friendship approach, the idea that friendships are only male-specific is opposed and friendship is considered a reality in itself. Within modern theory, sociological approach is mainly referred to. Although the phenomenon of friendship is a sociologically less focused subject, studies on the sociology of friendship are increasing. This study is important in terms of presenting a theoretical framework to the phenomenon of friendship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emphasizes that attitude research in adapted physical education must become increasingly theory oriented. Likewise, teacher training must broaden to include scholarly study in relation to social psychology and attitude theory. To facilitate progress in this direction, nine attitude theories have been abstracted from the literature and reviewed under four general headings: learning-behavior theories, cognitive integration theories, consistency theories, and reasoned action theory. Individual theories presented are (a) contact, (b) mediated generalization, (c) assimilation-contrast or persuasive communication, (d) stigma, (e) interpersonal relations, (f) group dynamics, (g) cognitive dissonance, and (h) reasoned action. Illustrations of how each theory applies to selected studies in adapted physical education research and practice are offered, and a lengthy reference list provides both primary and secondary sources for the further study of attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a reply to responded article which targeted on article with topic 'Cognitive Consistency Theory in Social Psychology: A Paradigm Reconsidered'. The topics addressed include details on the magnitude of dissonance which depends on the number of dissonant and consonant cognitions and a study stating that psychological discomfort affect can be evoked by a relatively simple induced compliance situation.

The article offers information on the cognitive consistency and active inference based on the psychology. The topics addressed include details on an epistemic and motivational Value in active inference and differences between the trivial and nontrivial inconsistencies, stating that trivial inconsistencies can be associated with belief updates about latent states of the world and nontrivial inconsistencies change beliefs about behavior.

The article present a response to the article based on 'Cognitive Consistency Theory in Social Psychology: A Paradigm Reconsidered' comprising the issues associated with the study. The topics include information on the mischaracterization of the cognitive consistency theory as a theory of affect arousal and study ignores the hypothesis of cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) comprises two distinct facets, dissonance arousal and dissonance reduction.

The article offers information on the cognitive consistency and its association with an interpersonal truth motivation. The topic addressed include details on the cognitive consistency theories which have been traditionally conceived of at the intrapersonal level comprising consonance or dissonance, balance or imbalance, and congruity or incongruity.

The article offers information on the several studies regarding the cognitive dissonance theory. The addressed include details on an association of the psychology of stress, uneasiness, or aversive tension with the cognitive dissonance; relationship between the motivation and the models of the consistency; and social psychological models of cognitive consistency.

From the 1950s onward, psychologists have generally assumed that people possess a general need for cognitive consistency, whose frustration by an inconsistency elicits negative affect. We offer a novel perspective on this issue by introducing the distinction between epistemic and motivational impact of consistent and inconsistent cognitions. The epistemic aspect is represented by the updated expectancy of the outcome addressed in such cognitions. The motivational aspect stems from value (desirability) of that outcome. We show that neither the outcome’s value nor its updated expectancy is systematically related to cognitive consistency or inconsistency. Consequently, we question consistency’s role in the driving of affective responses and the related presumption of a universal human need for cognitive consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does information about agents' past violations influence people's expectations about their future actions? We examined this question, with a focus on the contrast between past harmful and past impure actions. Participants' judgments reflected two independent influences: action consistency and expectation asymmetry. An expectation asymmetry was observed across seven studies, including two pilot studies and two supplemental studies: impure agents were judged as more likely to be harmful than harmful agents were judged likely to be impure. This expectation asymmetry is not due to an expectation that impure agents will be globally deviant, i.e., likely to commit all kinds of violations (Study 1), nor is it due to differences in the perceived wrongness or weirdness of harmful versus impure acts (Study 2). Study 3 demonstrated that this asymmetry is not attributable to the perceived harmfulness of impure actions; only impure agents, and not harmful agents, were expected to be more harmful than they were previously. These findings highlight an important asymmetry in the way people make predictions about future wrongdoing: immoral agents are expected to behave consistently, and are also expected to be harmful, regardless of their prior violation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the cognitive consistency along with its association with cognitive dissonance and inconsistency. The topics addressed include details on the terms motivation, affect, and self-regulation in psychology terminology along with their portrayal and information on an inconsistent of experiences with expectancies.

We propose that two distinct regulatory dynamics may produce social psychological priming effects, but under very different conditions. When engaged in structured regulation, people process information in light of their valued goals, responding to salient situational cues only to the extent that those cues are goal-relevant. By contrast, when engaged in unstructured regulation, people are more tuned to the demands of the present, tailoring their responses to the unique circumstances of the immediate context and evincing a greater openness to responding to salient cues in a cueconsistent manner. We explore construal level as one factor that dictates when people engage in one dynamic versus the other. We also discuss the distinction between traditional priming and mindset priming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While surprise is a common emotion in everyday life, some of its fundamental characteristics are still unclear. For example, what does surprise feel like, positive or negative? The emotion literature has been somewhat unclear about the experiential valence of surprise. Surprise has been depicted as a pre-affective state, or as an emotion that can be both positive and negative, depending on the goal conduciveness of the surprising event. Based on recent work on cognitive consistency and neuroscientific/psychophysiological studies on surprise, we explored the possibility that surprise may be a (mildly) negative emotion in a study of autobiographical recall of unexpected and surprising events (Experiment 1) and in two studies of facial expressions of surprise (Experiments 2 and 3a/b). The studies show that experience of surprise and the perception of surprise in others may indeed be initially negative. We furthermore show how linguistic features of surprise and the temporal dynamics may have contributed to previous confusion regarding its valence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although there is an increasing interest in examining the relationship between cognitive ability and economic behavior, less is known about the relationship between cognitive ability and social preferences. We investigate the relationship between consequential measures of cognitive ability and measures of social preferences. We have data on a series of small-stakes dictator-type decisions, known as Social Value Orientation (SVO), in addition to choices in a larger-stakes dictator game. We also have access to the grade point averages (GPA) and SAT (formerly referred to as the Scholastic Aptitude Test) outcomes of our subjects. We find that subjects who perform better on the Math portion of the SAT are more generous in both the dictator game and the SVO measure. By contrast we find that subjects with a higher GPA are more selfish in the dictator game and more generous according to the SVO. We also find some evidence that the subjects with higher GPA and higher SAT outcomes offer more consistent responses. Our results involving GPA and social preferences complement previous work which employ measures of cognitive ability which are sensitive to the intrinsic motivation of the subject. Our results involving SAT scores are without precedent in the literature and suggest that measures of cognitive ability, which are less sensitive to the intrinsic motivation of the subject, are positively related to generosity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The dual nature of the self has been a core concern of social psychology since its inception. We contribute to this longstanding tradition of inquiry by focusing on two lines of research within the expectation states theoretical research program: (1) the study of second-order expectations and (2) research on the durability of expectations. We argue that individuals give priority to others’ expectations over their own, and we compare our model against two alternatives. We also argue that second-order expectations tend to persist across social encounters, even when they are disadvantaging. Results from two experiments confirm the importance of second-order expectations during an initial interaction; however, we find that second-order effects only transfer when they are advantaging. We discuss the implications of our findings for developments within the expectation states theoretical research program and for advancing our understanding of the interplay of status characteristics and competing self motives (consistency vs. enhancement). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Throughout the history of social psychology there has been a strong and long-standing belief that individuals are generally consistent within their attitudes and behaviors; yet there is a track record of small effect sizes and difficulty in replicating findings involving consistency-based phenomena. To address this discontinuity, Cialdini, Trost, and Newsom (1995) developed a scale to assess individual differences in preference for consistency (PFC)—differences that they argued might account for the puzzling pattern. The PFC scale measures individual differences in the desire to be consistent, to be perceived as consistent, and for others to be consistent. This paper reviews the literature on social influence and PFC and evaluates the contribution this scale has made to the social influence literature in years since its initial introduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In two experiments, we investigated the relationships among stereotype strength, processing capacity, and the allocation of attention to stereotype-consistent versus stereotype-inconsistent information describing a target person. The results of both experiments showed that, with full capacity, greater stereotype strength was associated with increased attention toward stereotype-consistent versus stereotype-inconsistent information. However, when capacity was diminished, greater stereotype strength was associated with increased attention toward inconsistent versus consistent information. Thus, strong stereotypes may act as self-confirming filters when processing capacity is plentiful, but as efficient information gathering devices that maximize the acquisition of novel (disconfirming) information when capacity is depleted. Implications for models of stereotyping and stereotype change are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The psychometric properties of a Dutch version of Buss and Perry's Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) were examined in a sample of violent forensic psychiatric inpatients and outpatients and a sample of secondary vocational students. The internal consistency, interitem correlations, and item-scale correlations of the subscales Physical Aggression, Anger, and Hostility were good but turned out to be unsatisfactory for the subscale Verbal Aggression. The four-factor structure of the AQ could not be confirmed, but the four-factor structure of a 12-item version (short form) of the AQ, the AQ-SF, produced an acceptable fit. The test-retest reliability of the AQ and AQ-SF total scores was good, although the test-retest reliability of the AQ-SF subscale Physical Aggression was not satisfactory. The validity of both the AQ and AQ-SF could be demonstrated by meaningful correlations with alternative measures of aggression and personality, but inpatients were not found to display higher scores on the AQ or AQ-SF than the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The structure of individual differences in behavioral profiles across situations constitutes a royal road to understanding the mechanisms underlying person-in-context behavior. I want to go beyond partial accounts of this structure in terms of cross-situational consistency coefficients and estimated percentages of variance accounted for by person–situation interactions. For this purpose I propose a small set of empirically testable questions that underlie a basic typology of contextualized individual differences structures. The answers to these questions and the resulting classes of the typology relate to a broad range of concepts and theoretical frameworks, including synergistic interactions, ability accounts of personality dispositions, stress-diathesis models within the psychopathology domain, individual differences in discriminative facility, and Traits As Situational Sensitivities models. Tools from the two-mode clustering domain (old as well as recently proposed ones) can be used to detect the type of individual differences structure that constitutes the gist of a person by situation data set at hand. I illustrate with data on individual differences in helping behavior in a set of emergency situations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper continues a debate among philosophers concerning the implications of situationist experiments in social psychology for the theory of virtue. In a previous paper (2002), 1 argued among other things that the sort of character trait problematized by Hartshorne and May's (1928) famous study of honesty is not the right sort to trouble the theory of virtue. Webber (2006) criticizes my argument, alleging that it founders on an ambiguity in 'cross-situational consistency' and that Milgram's (1974) obedience experiment is immune to the objections I levelled against Hartshorne and May. Here I respond to his criticisms. The most important error in Webber's argument is that it overlooks a distinction between 'one time performance' experiments and 'iterated trial' experiments. I explain why the former cannot begin to trouble the theory of virtue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents commentary on the simulation of the framework of connectionism posed by the Mead-James theory of the dynamic self. The author disputes that the temporal, cultural and and psycho-social aspects of the self can be synthesized in a connectionist formula as it misses the paradoxes of self-serving motivators and the functional differences between self-perception and interaction.

Participants within groups of three were pre‐tested on a set of issues, discussed a subset of the issues, and were then post‐tested on all the issues. Discussion led to significant group consensus on issues that were discussed by participants. Consensus was also observed for issues that were not discussed by the group, but were related to the discussed issues. Groups did not move toward consensus on non‐discussed issues that were unrelated to the discussed issues. We discuss implications of our results for theories of cognitive consistency, and for the formation of culture within large and small groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study applied 2 complementary cognitive concepts of the self (i.e., self-complexity [SC] and self-concept differentiation [SCD]) to the area of romantic relationships and developed corresponding measures of cognitive concepts of romantic relationships (relationship complexity [RC] and relationship-concept differentiation [RCD], respectively). Then the associations between the cognitive concept measures and the degrees to which the participant's negative affect had been increased due to the recall of negative events in the romantic relationship were examined. Eighty-nine college students who were currently involved in a romantic relationship participated in the study. Results showed that the relationship-concept measures were related to, but not identical with, the self-concept measures. A greater affective reaction to the recall of a negative event in the romantic relationship was associated with a higher score in SC and a lower score in RC, whereas this affective reaction was neither significantly related to SCD nor to RCD. The findings imply that the relationship concept measures developed in the present study contribute significantly to the understanding of affective reactivity in romantic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the current work is on the motivated aspects of entitativity using the perspective gained from theories of cognitive consistency. The central hypothesis is that balance principles will motivate perceivers to partition the social world in such a way as to achieve a state of consistency between social units and attributed acts. Three studies are reported: one employing content analytic methods to investigate motivated perceptions of the US Supreme Court in the context of the 2000 presidential election, and two laboratory experiments. Results generally supported the prediction that agreement with a court's decision would lead to perceiving the court as an entitative unit, whereas disagreement would lead to 'de-entifying' the court by differentiating individual members or subgroups. Alternative explanations and implications of these findings for motivated cognition are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory and research are presented relating the need for cognitive closure to major facets of group behavior. It is suggested that a high need for closure, whether it is based on members' disposition or the situation, contributes to the emergence of a behavioral syndrome describable as group-centrism—a pattern that includes pressures to opinion uniformity, encouragement of autocratic leadership, in-group favoritism, rejection of deviates, resistance to change, conservatism, and the perpetuation of group norms. These theoretical predictions are borne out by laboratory and field research in diverse settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We first offer a brief review of the history of cognitive consistency theories in social psychology. After promising beginnings as an outgrowth of Gestalt theory, early consistency theories failed to yield a general account of the mechanisms by which attitudes are formed and decisions are made. However, over the past decade the principles underlying consistency theories have been revived in the form of connectionist models of constraint satisfaction. We then review experimental work on complex legal decision making that illustrates how constraint satisfaction mechanisms can cause coherence shifts, thereby transforming ambiguous inputs into coherent decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of advertising on the relationship between attitudes and behavior. Consistent with recent work in social cognition, this paper focuses on attitude-behavior consistency as the target dependent variable to be understood. The paper suggests that advertising can strengthen the relationship between attitudes and subsequent behavioral choices by influencing the nature of the memory representations of attitude objects. A controlled laboratory experiment demonstrates that moderate levels of exposure frequency can positively influence the number of brand associations in memory and the consistency between brand cognitions and summary evaluations. The experiment also shows that the amount of information provided can positively influence brand evaluations and negatively influence the proportion of self-generated inferences associated with advertised brands. Exposure frequency positively influences the strength of the relationship between stated attitudes and subsequent behavioral decisions, presumably through its influence on evaluative-cognitive consistency. The implications of these findings for advertising researchers and practitioners are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study surveyed 248 counselors, members the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) or International Association for Addictions and Offender Counselors (IAAOC), divisions of the American Counseling Association, regarding their perceptions of the nature and treatment of sexual addiction/compulsivity. Findings indicated that counselors perceived sexual addiction as an obsessional illness, characterized by out-of-control sexual behavior. A combination of individual and group therapy was most often suggested. Strategies most often recommended for treatment of sexual addiction included cognitive restructuring, defining behavioral boundaries, empathy, positive self-talk, and recognizing and avoiding high-risk situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the Noelle-Neumann's theory of spiral of silence in the context of the February 1986 revolution in the Philippines. The spiral of silence theory claims that the mainstream media can overcome any differences in how their audiences process communication if they fulfill: consonance, cumulation and ubiquity. In Noelle-Neumann's theory the audience is assumed to be a passive consumer of the mainstream media. Evidence contrary to this view can be found as early as the 1940s, in several studies that demonstrated how the processes of selective attention, exposure, comprehension, and retention accounted for significant differences in audience learning, affect, and behavior.

The article cites a study on the effect of future perspective towards individual consistency and influence to other groups members. Study has investigated that an individual adjust to the judgments of other group members when confronted with disagreement. There was an inclination an individual to reject the others judgments under anticipation of a continuous task and noncontinuing membership. Study also found out that there is a tendency of an individual strength to yield with others or to remain inflexible was correlated with his self-other evaluation consistency.

The article focuses on the importance of cognitive control principles, such as scanning and field articulation, in reflecting attention deployment as visual influences towards ego organization development. The study shows that the two cognitive control principles provide positive responses towards the development of personality organization. However, field articulation is recognized as an effective tool for female subjects. While, scanning appears to be an effective factor for men. Furthermore, the study shows that the appearance of the control principles indicates further evaluation towards effective attention deployment in personality organization.

The article discusses a study which tested the hypothesis that a person tends to change his opinions on logically related issues in the direction of greater mutual consistency when he is merely asked to state these opinions in close temporal contiguity. Several additional hypotheses regarding the focus of the Socratic effect were also tested. Another application of the cognitive consistency postulate to the area of persuasion used in the study dealt with the logical repercussions of persuasive communications.

The article discusses cognitive consistency and language behavior. Theories which incorporate the idea of cognitive consistency occupy a position of considerable importance in current social psychology. It has even been argued that they constitute the field's first truly general and compelling theoretical system. Consistency theories have already been constructed for perceptual phenomena, belief-action events, consensus formation and attitude change. The purpose of this paper is to report the test of an extension of a consistency formulation which attempts to conceptualize and explain the process through which language symbols (signs) come to take on similar psychological meanings for actors who engage in extended periods of mutual interaction. In order to specify more clearly the aspect of language behavior to which this research is addressed, it is necessary to distinguish between two types of meaning conveyed by a sign. For any user, a sign shall be assumed to possess both a formal, denotative meaning as well as a psychological or connotative meaning.

This article discusses on the correlation between educational attainment level of employees and their productivity and earnings in the U.S. the market value of an employee depends on a certain order of personal characteristics that includes cognitive, affective and ascriptive. Among white, male Americans, the bulk of modern sociological theory affirms the minor importance of ascriptive traits in the general allocation of social roles and status position. Research shows that occupational the contribution of schooling to job-adequacy may be more accurately described as evincing a cognitive mode, and suppressing an affective mode, of reacting to bureaucratic situations.

This article discusses the corpus of psychological persuasion theories whose essentials have been summarized by Robert Abelson, Anthony Greenwald and others. The author aims to provide an overall audit of the persuasion theories by weighing them against past performance and with a view toward future earnings potential. Attention is given to "maxi-theories" and "mini-theories." Maxi-theories are general theories from which mini-theories are derived.

The article issues related to dissonance and attitude change. Few theoretical issues in social psychology have attracted as much interest in recent years as have those dealing with models of cognitive consistency. A number of studies have found greater attitude change with lesser rewards, thus providing empirical support for dissonance theory of most relevance to the present research is the investigation, in which undergraduates were induced by differing amounts of monetary reward to compose essays which advocated a position directly opposite to that held by most, if not all, of the subject population. Through their responses to a short questionnaire, administered immediately after the completion of this task, subjects indicated their attitude regarding the issue. This conceptualization of dissonance-induced attitude change is supported by the results of the present study, where such an effect is seen only under immediate measurement, after which an alternative mechanism becomes more salient. Thus it seems that attitude change in response to dissonance arousal would tend to be shortened, unless the manner of dissonance inducement or the particular behaviors and attitudes involved render the activation of alternative modes of resolution impossible, under such conditions, attitude change might persist indefinitely.

Using standard laboratory equipment, such as color mixing wheels and audio-oscillators, investigators asked their subjects (Ss) to select the extremes, e.g., the darkest and lightest or highest and lowest, of a wide variety of categories. For such diverse categories as the brightness of an overcast sky and the pitch of a female singing voice, Ss in this situation tended to be consistently broad, medium, or narrow in their category widths relative to the total sample. When Ss are asked to estimate the extremes of a number of diverse categories, from length of whales to annual rainfall in Washington D.C., they evidence a significant tendency to be consistent in their category ranges. That is, they are consistently broad, medium, or narrow in their category widths relative to the total sample. Based on this phenomenon, a 20-item, objectively scored measure of category width is presented together with its properties. With adequate overtime reliability and internal consistency, the scale yields a rank order correlation of + 57 with a laboratory- established criterion.