Hawkish biases and the interdisciplinary study of conflict decision-making

Abstract

Psychological biases strongly affect foreign policy decision-making. The authors argue that the biases recently uncovered by psychological research favor hawkish decisions in conflict situations. By “hawkish," they refer to a propensity for suspicion, hostility and aggression in the conduct of conflict, and for less cooperation and trust when the resolution of a conflict is on the agenda. While much extant work examines links between cognitive biases and conflict, they offer a new and developed formulation based on the excellent insight of Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman in the field of psychology and Jonathan Renshon’s knowledge of IR and conflict.