Consistency

Of consistency is when the parts of a whole well together and complement each other without contradiction: it is "internally consistent". It is a great advantage for a political party if it has a coherent overall concept; when the party program, political action, rhetoric and people - when all these parts and aspects coincide with each other. As soon as this is not the case, the party base and voters are insecure and often outraged. B. "You preach social justice and cut support for the poorest of the poor and drive a fat Porsche around yourself ...!"

Paul Watzlawick uses this term in a different sense, namely as a harmonious oneness with the world.

In Friedemann Schulz von Thun's communication psychology , coherence denotes the consistency of situation-appropriate and authentic communication . That is, a person behaves in a coherent manner if their behavior is appropriate to the character of the situation as well as being in accordance with their nature and genuine. This double agreement is considered to be the central criterion for adequate, good and correct communication. It follows the question: “How can I communicate in view of how the situation is constructed and what it demands of me in my role, as well as in view of what moves inside me and what I stand for?” To find out what is appropriate to the situation the view is directed outwards and seeks the situational context: “What are its components, how are they related to each other? How is the relationship with the other person? What is this situation about, which commandments and requirements are included so that communication can correspond to it? ” a. the situation model. The second line of sight aims at authenticity, is directed inwards, towards the inner context of the communicating person: “Which thoughts, feelings and impulses report themselves in them and would like to bring themselves to bear? With what utterance would she be in agreement with herself? Which inner commandments and demands are loud and want to be taken into account? ”The inner team offers help with this self-clarification .

4-field scheme of consistency according to Schulz von Thun

If both aspects of consistency are considered in connection, a four-field scheme of consistency results , which provides four behavioral options:

1. In accordance with oneself and with the situational content (= "coherent" );
2. In agreement with oneself, but not appropriate to the situation (= “next to” );
3. Not in accordance with oneself, but suitable for the situation (= "adapted" );
4. Neither with oneself nor with the content of the situation (= “cross” ).

literature

• F. Schulz von Thun: Talking to each other 3. The inner team and situation-appropriate communication . Reinbek near Hamburg, 1998 (p. 13 ff ./306 ff)
• F. Schulz von Thun, J. Ruppel, R. Stratmann: Talking to one another. Communication psychology for executives . Reinbek near Hamburg, 2000/2003 (p. 27 ff.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paul Watzlawick: From the nonsense of the sense and from the sense of the nonsense . Piper series, 1995, p. 39