Final answer:
Consistency cues reflect how consistently a person engages in behavior across different situations, helping determine if behaviors are due to internal dispositions or external situations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Attribution cues that reflect the extent to which a person engages in some behavior across a variety of situations are known as consistency cues. Consistency cues are important in social psychology because they indicate how consistent a person's behavior is across different situations. These cues contribute to forming attributions about whether a person's behavior is due to internal dispositions or external situational factors.
For example, if someone is observed to be friendly not only with close friends but also with strangers and in stressful situations, this consistent behavior can lead to the attribution that friendliness is a trait of that person's disposition. In contrast, if the friendliness is only seen in specific situations, a situational attribution might be more appropriate. Understanding these cues helps in avoiding errors such as the fundamental attribution error and enhances comprehension of the actor-observer bias.