Six Allies and a neutral; study of the international outlooks of political leaders in the United States, Britain C.2

In its work in the field of political and social psychology, the Institute for International Social Research is focusing its attention primarily upon the psychological dy namics which influence political and social behavior in vari ous parts of the world in ways that involve significant effects upon international relations. The majority of its current projects have to do with governments, and why, in terms of psychological variables, they behave as they do in regard to international issues. The present report includes studies of the psychological dynamics which influence the current inter national behavior (more particularly in the cold war context) of neutral India, on the one hand; and on the other, of the United States and five of its major allies: Great Britain, France, West Germany, Italy and Japan.

The approach adopted in these studies rests upon the as sumption that getting at the well-springs of governmental behavior requires, among other things, investigation of the political psychology, as it relates to the international sphere, of individual decision-makers and decision-ratifiers in the countries concerned. What, for example, do they tend to see as the realities of the world in which they have responsibility for conducting their country's affairs? What are their inter national horizons? What factors do they take into account when reaching decisions (and, conversely, what factors do they tend to subordinate that political leaders in other coun tries may consider of paramount importance)?