Strategic Instincts (eBook)

The Adaptive Advantages of Cognitive Biases in International Politics

Dominic D. P. Johnson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2020
392 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-18560-6 (ISBN)

Infos

"e;A very timely book."e;-Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New AmericaHow cognitive biases can guide good decision making in politics and international relationsA widespread assumption in political science and international relations is that cognitive biases-quirks of the brain we all share as human beings-are detrimental and responsible for policy failures, disasters, and wars. In Strategic Instincts, Dominic Johnson challenges this assumption, explaining that these nonrational behaviors can actually support favorable results in international politics and contribute to political and strategic success. By studying past examples, he considers the ways that cognitive biases act as "e;strategic instincts,"e; lending a competitive edge in policy decisions, especially under conditions of unpredictability and imperfect information.Drawing from evolutionary theory and behavioral sciences, Johnson looks at three influential cognitive biases-overconfidence, the fundamental attribution error, and in-group/out-group bias. He then examines the advantageous as well as the detrimental effects of these biases through historical case studies of the American Revolution, the Munich Crisis, and the Pacific campaign in World War II. He acknowledges the dark side of biases-when confidence becomes hubris, when attribution errors become paranoia, and when group bias becomes prejudice. Ultimately, Johnson makes a case for a more nuanced understanding of the causes and consequences of cognitive biases and argues that in the complex world of international relations, strategic instincts can, in the right context, guide better performance.Strategic Instincts shows how an evolutionary perspective can offer the crucial next step in bringing psychological insights to bear on foundational questions in international politics.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.9.2020
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Studies in International History and Politics
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Studies in International History and Politics
• Zusatzinfo: 13 b/w illus. 8 tables.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Allgemeine Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sozialpsychologie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Verhaltenstherapie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Europäische / Internationale Politik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Schlagworte: Across the Pacific • adaptive advantages • Adaptive bias • adaptive functions • adaptive heuristics • Adolf Hitler • Affective computing • Aggression • Air raids on Japan • Alvin Kernan • appeasement of Hitler • Attribution (psychology) • banzai charge • Battle of Midway • Behavior • Behavioral Economics • Behavioural Sciences • Blockade • Bomb • Brian Rathbun • brinkmanship • British Army • Calculation • Carl von Clausewitz • Cognition • Cognitive Bias • Competition • confidence • Cost–benefit analysis • Daniel Kahneman • Decision-Making • Determination • Deterrence (legal) • disadvantage • disaster • Dispositional attribution • Effectiveness • Error Management (EM) • error management theory • estimation • European theatre of World War II • Evolution • Evolutionary Psychology • experimental psychology • Explaining Munich, Donald Lammers • foreign policy • Foreign policy analysis • France and the Nazi Menace • Fundamental Attribution Error • Great Power • group bias • Harvard University • Heuristic • Heuristics in judgment and decision-making • human behavior • human dispositions • Illustration • ingredient • Ingroups and outgroups • International Relations • International Security • Japan Self-Defense Forces • John F. Kennedy • Kamikaze • Literature • memory distortion • Mental disorder • military history • Military Operation • Military Strategy • morale • Motivation • motivational biases • national security • Nazi Germany • Negotiation • nuclear weapon • obstacle • offensive realism • optimism • Pacific War • Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision • Perceptions and Misperceptions in International Politics • political behavior • political decision making • political irrationality • Political Paranoia • Political Psychology • Political Science • Politician • Politics • politics and biology • Positive illusions • positive psychology • Prediction • Prejudice • Probability • Psychiatry • psychological disposition • psychologist • Psychology • Racism • Rational Choice Theory • Rationality • Reasoning of State • result • Rise of Hitler • Robert Jervis • Saddam Hussein • security dilemma • Social Psychology • Social Science • Soviet Union • Stephen Peter Rosen • Strategic Advantage • strategic bombing • Strategic goal (military) • strategic studies • Superiority (short story) • surrender of japan • Technology • Theory of International Politics • The Unknown Battle of Midway • Thomas Mahnken • Uncertainty • Uncovering Ways of War • war • war effort • warfare • weapon of mass destruction • wishful thinking • World War I • World War II
• ISBN-10: 0-691-18560-3 / 0691185603
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-18560-6 / 9780691185606