IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v31y1987i1p5-33.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceptual Illusions and Military Realities

Author

Listed:
  • S. Plous

    (Department of Psychology, Stanford University)

Abstract

Traditionally, the most common game-theoretic model of the nuclear arms race has been the Prisoner's Dilemma, in which participants are bound in conflict by the structure of the situation. Recent evidence suggests, however, that the nuclear arms race may be better approximated by a “Perceptual Dilemma†arising from discrepant perceptions of various outcome utilities. The present experiment compared the effects of two strategies, a matching strategy (called Status Quo) and a matching strategy preceded by unconditional cooperation (called Disarmament Initiatives), within the context of a Prisoner's Dilemma or a Perceptual Dilemma. Results indicated that: (a) the Status Quo strategy sustained competitive behavior, attitudes, and emotions in both the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Perceptual Dilemma; and (b) the Disarmament Initiatives strategy induced significantly more cooperation among subjects locked in a Perceptual Dilemma than those in a Prisoner's Dilemma. The limitations, extensions, and implications of these findings are discussed in terms of political action and future research.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Plous, 1987. "Perceptual Illusions and Military Realities," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 31(1), pages 5-33, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:31:y:1987:i:1:p:5-33
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002787031001002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002787031001002
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0022002787031001002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Snidal, Duncan, 1985. "Coordination versus Prisoners' Dilemma: Implications for International Cooperation and Regimes," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(4), pages 923-942, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul A. Kowert & Margaret G. Hermann, 1997. "Who Takes Risks?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 41(5), pages 611-637, October.
    2. Gary Goertz & Paul F. Diehl, 1992. "Toward a Theory of International Norms," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(4), pages 634-664, December.
    3. Markus Gastinger & Henning Schmidtke, 2023. "Measuring precision precisely: A dictionary-based measure of imprecision," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 553-571, July.
    4. Scott Barrett & Astrid Dannenberg, 2017. "Tipping Versus Cooperating to Supply a Public Good," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 910-941.
    5. Werle, Raymund, 2000. "Institutional aspects of standardization: Jurisdictional conflicts and choice of standardization organizations," MPIfG Discussion Paper 00/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Werle, Raymund, 2001. "Standards in the International Telecommunications Regime," Discussion Paper Series 26265, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.
    7. Büthe Tim, 2010. "Engineering Uncontestedness? The Origins and Institutional Development of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 1-64, October.
    8. Kenneth W. Abbott & Duncan Snidal, 1998. "Why States Act through Formal International Organizations," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 42(1), pages 3-32, February.
    9. Werle, Raymund, 2001. "Standards in the international telecommunications regime," HWWA Discussion Papers 157, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    10. Haixiao Huang, Walter C. Labys, 2002. "Environment and trade: a review of issues and methods," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(1/2), pages 100-160.
    11. Pierre Berthaud & Tancrède Voituriez, 2013. "BASIC effect on global climate governance. Power changes and regime shifts," Post-Print halshs-00868468, HAL.
    12. James C. Hartigan, 2016. "In or Out? Standards, Discretion, Compliance and the WTO," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 738-754, June.
    13. Manuel Becker & Thomas Dörfler & Thomas Gehring, 2018. "Credible commitment without independent regulatory agent: Evidence from the Security Council's United Nations Compensation Commission," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(3), pages 395-412, September.
    14. Brett Ashley Leeds, 2000. "Credible Commitments and International Cooperation: Guaranteeing Contracts Without External Enforcement," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 18(1), pages 49-71, February.
    15. Mark Irving Lichbach, 1990. "When Is an Arms Rivalry a Prisoner's Dilemma?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 34(1), pages 29-56, March.
    16. Rixen, Thomas, 2008. "The institutional design of international double taxation avoidance [Das Design der internationalen Institutionen zur Vermeidung von Doppelbesteuerung]," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2008-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    17. Zürn, Michael, 1993. "Problematic social situations and international institutions: on the use of game theory in international politics," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 63-84.
    18. Loeper, Antoine, 2011. "Coordination in heterogeneous federal systems," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 900-912, August.
    19. Genschel, Philipp & Werle, Raymund, 1992. "From National Hierarchies to International Standardization: Historical and Modal Changes in the Coordination of Telecommunications," MPIfG Discussion Paper 92/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    20. Roland Anglin, 1995. "Constructing cooperation: Instituting a state plan for development and redevelopment," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(3), pages 433-445.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:31:y:1987:i:1:p:5-33. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.