---
slug: "SelfConsistency"
name: "SelfConsistency"
type: "Reasoning"
layer: "Mind"
ref: "SelfConsistency#4f68"
sema_id: "sema:SelfConsistency#mh:SHA-256:4f68cebc4f82197975d6098701b0431bafb1e79792d19cb69a8d9dbad5036b8a"
tags: ["Mind","Reasoning"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json
url: https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/SelfConsistency/
related: ["Aggregate","EvidenceDependence"]
---

# SelfConsistency

Sample multiple reasoning chains, select by majority

Layer: Mind · Category: Reasoning

## Mechanism

A variance-reduction technique where the same query is processed N times independently (with temperature > 0), producing N candidate answers. The final answer is selected by majority [Aggregate](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Aggregate.md) (Mode). Exploits the intuition that correct reasoning paths are more likely to converge on the same answer than incorrect ones. It aggregates multiple reasoning paths via [Aggregate](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Aggregate.md) to determine the most robust answer.

## Invariants

- Aggregation: Final answer determined by plurality or weighted aggregation
- Independence: Each sample must be generated without knowledge of others
- N >= 3: Minimum samples for meaningful convergence

## Failure modes

- Consistent Wrongness: All N samples converge on the same incorrect answer (systematic bias).
- Cost Explosion: N samples means N times the compute cost.

## Builds on

- [Aggregate](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Aggregate.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Used by

—

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:SelfConsistency#mh:SHA-256:4f68cebc4f82197975d6098701b0431bafb1e79792d19cb69a8d9dbad5036b8a`
- Ref: `SelfConsistency#4f68`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:SelfConsistency#mh:SHA-256:543df3dae7e7343a60ce588b0dac22883ec50c8ae0816ea6b25cb697f238cd7d`
  - `sema:SelfConsistency#mh:SHA-256:2095d12c9020575e57fc798f2f5b9d0a112bc8827e2c015e0d894a456427efbd`
  - `sema:SelfConsistency#mh:SHA-256:a1cdf8b8b168783be68ae86cda126d7518a53f01a758a6a0df486f3cf0e7d9af`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/SelfConsistency/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/#SelfConsistency)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/SelfConsistency.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json)