Ingroup Biases and the U.S.-Soviet Conflict.

This paper examines the role of ingroup biases in the distrust between the United States and the Soviet Union, and how such biases may undermine international relations. Findings from a questionnaire administered to American community college adults showed that U.S. citizens favor their country over the Soviet Union and interpret government actions in ways that preserve their positive views of the United States and negative views of the USSR. Americans' perceptions of the Soviets were associated with the way they interpreted Soviet actions, and a negative interpretation of Soviet actions was related to policy support for the Strategic Defense Initiative and increased U.S. defense spending. Results also supported the ‘blacktop illusion’: a view of the other side's leadership as evil and coercive, and its people as controlled or manipulated by their government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]