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Number 2/2007
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Social perception of international relations.
Cognitive predictors of laymen's attitudes towards international events
Krystyna Skarżyńska
Warsaw School of Social Psychology
Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Krzysztof Chmielewski
Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Ipsos Poland
Abstract |
This paper presents the role of some cognitive predictors: 1/ the level of perceived
entitativity of the EU, 2/ perception of the UE-USA relationship on the enemy-ally
dimension, 3/ the level of generalized trust in people, and 4/ the level of trust in
international institutions (UN, NATO, EU) - in forming positive expectations about
Poland's accession to the UE, attitudes towards the presence of Polish troops in
Iraq and fears of terrorism.
The analyses are based on data obtained in May 2004 from guided personal interviews
run on a representative random sample of Poles (N = 1000). The results of multiple
regression analyses showed that Poles' expectations about Poland's accession to
the UE are more positive (the level of hope is bigger) when perceived entitativity
of the EU, perceived cooperativeness between the EU and USA, generalized trust in
people and trust in international institutions are higher. The same cognitive variables
are significantly associated with the level of support of Polish troops in Iraq.
The reversed pattern of relations was found between these cognitive variables and
the level of fear of terrorism.
Key words: entitativity, UE-USA relationship, trust in people,
trust in international institutions
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