Political Psychology And Foreign Policy

289 Pages·2020·65.01 MB·English

by  Eric Singer, Valerie M Hudson

POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY
AND FOREIGN POLICY

POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY
AND FOREIGN POLICY
EDITED BY
ERIC SINGER
AND
VALERIE HUDSON
First published 1992 by Westview Press
Published 2019 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Political psychology and foreign policy / edited by Eric Singer and
Valerie Hudson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. International relations—Psychological aspects.
2. International relations—Decision making. 3. Political
psychology. 4. Decision-making, Group. I. Singer, Eric.
II. Hudson, Valerie M., 1958-
JX1255.P64 1992
327'.01'9—dc20 91-46522
CIP
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-28353-7 (hbk)
TO BEN AND ARIEL,
LIGHT OF OUR LIVES,
SONG OF OUR HEARTS

CONTENTS
Foreword, Margaret G. Hermann ix
PART ONE
PERCEPTION STUDIES
1 Perception and International Relations: An Overview,
James F. Voss and Ellen Dorsey 3
2 The Cognitive Maps of British Leaders, 1938-1939: The
Case of Chamberlain-in-Cabinet, Stephen G. Walker
and George L. Watson 31
3 On Being More Rational Than the Rationality Assumption:
Dramatic Requirements, Nuclear Deterrence, and the Agenda
for Learning, Lloyd S. Etheredge 59
PART TWO
PERSONALITY STUDIES
4 Personality and Foreign Policy: Historical Overview
of Research, David G. Winter 79
5 Applying Personality Theory to Foreign Policy Behavior:
Evaluating Three Methods of Assessment, Charles E. Snare 103
6 Birth Order and the Personal Characteristics of World Leaders,
Valerie Hudson 135
vii
viii CONTENTS
PART THREE
GROUP DYNAMICS
7 Decision-Making Groups, Fritz Gaenslen 165
8 Modeling Foreign Policy Advisory Processes,
Cynthia B. Orbovich and Richard K. Molnar 195
9 Political Decision Making in Small Groups: The Cuban
Missile Crisis Revisited—One More Time,
Helen E. Purkitt 219
10 Conclusion: Political Psychology/Foreign Policy,
the Cognitive Revolution, and International Relations,
Eric Singer and Valerie Hudson 247
About the Book and Editors 265
About the Contributors 267
Index 269
FOREWORD
In the early 1980s, I observed that scholars in international relations and
foreign policy were increasingly looking inside the black box to study the
people involved in making foreign policy decisions. Instead of opening a
Pandora's box, such research was providing insights into when and how
individuals can influence the nature of governments' foreign policy behav-
ior. Now, a new field, political psychology, has come of age. One of the
issues of particular interest to political psychologists centers around how
foreign policy decisions are made.
The psychological phenomena that political psychologists examine have
to do with how individuals perceive, interpret, feel about, and react to
their environment. The political factors have to do with the activities
involved in governing or the making of public policy-that is, with how
the material and human resources of a collectivity are allocated. In effect,
political psychology "marries" these two types of phenomena, and of
particular interest is how people perceive, interpret, feel about, and react
in settings where public policy is being made or governance is at issue.
Sometimes the focus of political psychology is on the bride in the
marriage, and researchers examine what it is about the :ndividual and his
or her experience that results in a particular way of perceiving, interpret-
ing, feeling about, or reacting to a public policy issue. At other times,
political psychologists turn to the groom in the marriage and study who
makes public policy, how, and with what effect on members of the collec-
tivity. The focus is now on the political phenomena but at the individual
or psychological level of analysis. At still other times, the concern of
political psychology turns to the relationship between the bride and groom.
For example, why does a particular psychological factor lead to different
kinds of effects in different types of governing bodies-for example, the
various effects of psychological dependence on shaping political behavior
in democratic and nondemocratic Asian countries. The emphasis here is
on both psychological and political phenomena and how each affects the
other. In the chapters that follow, there are examples of all three of these
ways of weaving psychological and political phenomena together.
ix