Ingroup biases and the US-Soviet conflict
International tension and the nuclear arms race are constant threats to human civilization, and the distrust that infects U.S.-Soviet relations has undermined the peace process. From a social-psychological viewpoint, this distrust may originate with people's tendency to derogate and stereotype the group they are in conflict with. Ingroup biases may lead to the selective processing of information according to preexisting cognitive categories and may consequently lead people to perceive and encode only that information which confirms the stereotype. In this way, people find justification for their defensive actions. These hypotheses were investigated in a survey research study, conducted with a sample of American community college adults. The results of the data analyses confirmed the hypothesis that U.S. citizens favor their country, over the Soviet Union and tend to interpret government actions in ways that preserve their positive views of the U.S. and negative views of the U.S.S.R. Americans' perceptions of the Soviets were found to influence how Soviet actions were interpreted and the interpretation of Soviet actions was related to policy support with more negative interpretations of Soviet actions being associated with greater support for the Strategic Defense Initiative and increased U.S. defense spending.
- Research Organization:
- Claremont Graduate School, CA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5488584
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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