Invitation to Guest Lecture
Collective Decision Making in Complex Matters
Decision Making Processes at an International Level
By Richard K. Herrmann
November 12, 2014
14.30-16.00, R201(CST)
Professor of Political Psychology, Dept. of Political Science, Ohio State University
Abstract: As the Ukrainian crisis of 2014 unfolded, the Chancellor of Germany after speaking with the
president of Russia, reported that she thought he was in a completely different world. His view of what was
going on was so different than the conventional wisdom in the West that finding any common ground
seemed nearly impossible. This paper explores the roots of the different worldviews that adversaries
oftentimes operate with and examines how these different constructions of reality complicate the
expectations that follow from rational bargaining theory. The main contention is that attachments to the
nation serve a need to belong and produce stronger affective reactions to both potential threats and
potential opportunities the nation might face. These gut‐level intuitive feelings then motivate conscious
constructions of reality that make acting on the emotional sentiment easier. The motivated images define
the situation as one in which there are extenuating circumstances that warrant setting aside normative
constraints on action that would otherwise apply. The theory is tested with data drawn from experiments
run in a national sample in the United States that examines collective decisions with regard to Russia, China,
and Iran as well as Israel. It is also applied to the Ukrainian case looking at the collective decisions taken in
Europe and Russia as well as in the United States.
Richard Herrmann is Professor Political Psychology at the department of Political Science, Ohio State
University. His research concentrates on international relations, international security and political
psychology. He was the Director of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. He has written on
the role of perception and imagery in foreign policy as well as on the importance of nationalism and identity
politics in world affairs. His areas of interests include American foreign policy and the politics of the Middle East
and Russia. He has served as a Council on Foreign Relations Fellow on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning
staff in Washington D.C. and is the author of Perceptions and Behavior in Soviet Foreign Policy. He has
published numerous articles in journals including American Political Science Review, World Politics,
International Organization, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, American Journal of Political
Science, Journal of Conflict Resolution, The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Political
Psychology. http://polisci.osu.edu/people/herrmann
Organization: Political Communication Research Unit, Department of Communication
Prof. Dr. Christ’l De Landtsheer
Department of Communication
Political Communication Research Unit
Sint-Jacobstraat 2 (M.473) - 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/christl-delandtsheer/
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Sciences.