The belief system and national images: a case study
| Author | Ole R. Holsti |
| Published date | 01 September 1962 |
| Date | 01 September 1962 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002200276200600306 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The
belief
system
and
national
images:
a
case
study
1
OLE
R.
HOLSTI
Department
of
Political
Science,
Stanford
University
1.
The
Belief
System
and
National
Images
Even
a
cursory
survey
of
the
relevant
lit-
erature
reveals
that
in
recent
years-particu-
larly
in
the
decade
and
a
half
since
the
end
of
World
War
II-students
of
international
politics
have
taken
a
growing
interest
in
psycho-attitudinal
approaches
to
the
study
of
the
international
system.
It
has
been
proposed,
in
fact,
that
psychology
belongs
at
the
&dquo;core&dquo;
of
the
discipline
(Wright,
1955,
p.
506).
Two
related
problems
within
this
area
have
become
particular
foci
of
atten-
tion.
1.
A
number
of
studies
have
shown
that
the
relationship
between
&dquo;belief
system,&dquo;
perceptions,
and
decision-making
is
a
vital
one
(Rokeach,
1960;
Smith et
al.,
1956;
Snyder
et
al.,
1954 ) .2 A
decision-maker
acts
upon
his
&dquo;image&dquo;
of
the
situation
rather
than
upon
&dquo;objective&dquo;
reality,
and
it
has
been
demonstrated
that
the
belief
system-its
structure
as
well
as
its
content-plays
an
in-
tegral
role
in
the
cognitive
process
(Bould-
ing,
1956;
Festinger,
1957;
Ray,
1961).
2.
Within
the
broader
scope
of
the
belief-
system-perception-decision-making
relation-
ship
there
has
been
a
heightened
concern
for
the
problem
of
stereotyped
national
images
as
a
significant
factor
in
the
dynamics
of
the
international
system
(Bauer,
1961;
Bould-
ing,
1959;
Osgood,
1959b;
Wheeler,
1960;
Wright,
1957).
Kenneth
Boulding,
for
ex-
ample,
has
written
that,
&dquo;The
national
image,
however,
is
the
last
great
stronghold
of
un-
sophistication....
Nations
are
divided
into
’good’
and
’bad’ -the
enemy
is
all
bad,
one’s
own
nation
is
of
spotless
virtue&dquo;
(Boulding,
1959,
p.
130).
The
relationship
of
national
images
to
international
conflict
is
clear:
decision-
makers
act
upon
their
definition
of
the
situa-
tion
and
their
images
of
states-others
as
well
as
their
own.
These
images
are
in
turn
dependent
upon
the
decision-maker’s
belief
system,
and
these
may or
may
not
be
accu-
rate
representations
of
&dquo;reality.&dquo;
Thus
it
has
been
suggested
that
international
conflict
frequently
is
not
between
states,
but
rather
between
distorted
images
of
states
(Wright,
1957,
p.
266).
The
purpose
of
this
paper
is
to
report
the
findings
of
a
case
study
dealing
with
the
relationship
between
the
belief
system,
1
The
author
wishes
to
express
his
deep
grati-
tude
to
Professors
Robert
C.
North,
James
T.
Watkins,
IV,
and
Thomas
A.
Bailey
for
their
advice
and
encouragement
on
the
larger
study
from
which
this
paper
is
derived;
to
Charles
A.
McClelland
and
Richard
Fagen
for
their
useful
comments
on
this
paper;
and
to
Mrs.
Helen
Grace
for
preparing
the
figures.
2
Although
in
the
literature
the
terms
"belief
system"
(Rokeach,
1960,
pp.
18-9),
"image"
(Boulding,
1956,
pp.
5-6),
and
"frame
of
refer-
ence"
(Snyder
et
al.,
1954,
p.
101)
have
fre-
quently
been
used
synonymously,
in
this
paper
"belief
system"
will
denote
the
complete
world
view,
whereas
"image"
will
denote
some
subpart
of
the
belief
system.
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