Suchergebnisse

Addressed is the issue of the hostility or 'friendliness' exhibited by the United States public toward foreign nations. It is posited that such attitudes will be designed to avoid incongruity with an assumed favorable image of the public's own nation. Hence, these attitudes should be related to the similarity of the foreign nation to the United States & to the interest the United States derives from that nation. An equation is formulated relating a measure of similarity & one of interest to public approval of 25 foreign nations. Approval is measured on the basis of a 1976 Gallup survey, & similarity & interest are measured by composite indexes derived by principal component analyses of a number of partial indicators. A regression analysis demonstrates the explanatory power of both predictors, which are further validated by replicating the estimation for 1967 data on 28 foreign nations. Certain differences in the foreign countries preferred by 'white' & 'nonwhite' respondents are indicated. The suggestion is made that changes in attitudes toward foreign nations lag condiderably behind changes in official foreign policy. 6 Tables, Appendix. AA.