¹ I am indebted to Ole R. Holsti, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia, and Francis L. K. Hsu, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, for help while preparing an earlier draft of this paper. They bear no responsibility for the inadequacies of the final version.

² Quinton, Anthony, ‘The Problem of Perception,’ in Warnock, G. J., ed., The Philosophy of Perception (London: Oxford University Press, 1967), p. 61.Google Scholar

³ See Warr, Peter B. and Knapper, Christopher, The Perception of People and Events (New York: Wiley, 1968);Google ScholarTagiuri, R., ‘Person Perception,’ in Lindzey, G. and Aronson, E., ed., Handbook of Social Psychology (Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1968);Google Scholar and Tagiuri, R. and Petrullo, L., ed., Person Perception and Inter-personal Behaviour (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1968).Google Scholar

⁴ Rokeach, Milton, The Open and Closed Mind: Investigations into the Nature of Belief Systems and Personality Systems (New York: Basic Books, 1960), p. 33.Google Scholar The term is intended to incorporate Rokeach's use of the term ‘disbelief system’ (ibid).

⁵ Holsti, Ole, ‘The “Operational Code” Approach to the Study of Political Leaders: John Foster Dulles’ Philosophical and Instrumental Beliefs,’ Canadian Journal of Political Science III (1970), pp. 127,147,148.Google Scholar On the central concept around which this exposition revolved, see George, Alexander, ‘The “Operational Code": a Neglected Approach to the Study of Political Leaders and Decision-making’, International Studies Quarterly, XIII (1969), pp. 190–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶ Casanova, P. G., ‘Internal and External Politics of Underdeveloped Countries,’ in Farrell, R. Barry, ed., Approaches to Comparative and International Politics (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1966), pp. 131–50.Google Scholar

⁷ Newnham, J., ‘Arab-Israeli Relations: a Pilot Study of lnternational Relations,’ International Problems (1967).Google Scholar

⁸ On the use of the term, see the Introduction to Hsu, Francis L. K., ed., Psychological Anthropology: Approaches to Culture and Personality (Homewood, Ill.: The Dorsey Press, 1961), pp. 6, 10.Google Scholar See also the articles in ‘Psychological Reality’ in Tyler, Stephen A., ed., Cognitive Anthropology (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969), Part 4, p. 343 ff.Google Scholar

⁹ Kluckhohn, Clyde, ‘The Philosophy of the Navaho Indians’ in Fried, M., ed., Readings in Anthropology (New York: Crowell, 1959), Vol. II, pp. 427 ff.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Hsu, Francis L. K., Passage to Difference: Americans and Chinese (New York: Natural History Press, 1968), p. 81.Google Scholar Cf. DuBois, Cora, ‘The Dominant Value Profile of American Culture,’ American Anthropologist, 57 (1955), pp. 12–33.Google Scholar

¹¹ For a full report, see the present author's ‘ Britain and China: a Study of the Making of Foreign Policy in the United Kingdom, with Special Reference to Relations with China since 1949’, University of London: Ph.D. dissertation, 11 1969.Google Scholar

¹² On some of the problems of consistency in cognitive structures, see Zajonc, R. B., ‘The Process of Cognitive Tuning in Communication,’ Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 61 (1960), pp. 159–67CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Pepitone, Albert, ‘Some Conceptual and Empirical Problems of Consistency Models,’ in Feldman, Shel, ed. Cognitive Consistency: Motivational Antecedents and Behavioural Consequents (New York: Academic Press, 1966), pp. 257–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gamson, W. A. and Modigliani, A., ‘Knowledge and Foreign Policy Opinions: Some Models for Consideration’ in Kriesberg, L., ed., Social Processes in International Relations (New York: Wiley, 1968), pp. 52–64.Google Scholar

¹³ Gammans, , House of Commons Debates, Vol. 456,15 09 1948, Col. 167.Google Scholar

¹⁴ House of Commons Debates, Vol. 475, 24 05 1950, Col. 2081.Google Scholar The relevant document is ‘Agreement regarding Entry of the Soviet Union into the War against Japan’ in Foreign Relations of the United States: the Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945 (Washington DC, 1955), p. 984.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Kennan, , ‘The International Situation,’ Department of State Bulletin, Vol. xxi, No. 531, 5 09 1949, pp. 323–24.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Acheson, , ‘Basic Principles of US policy toward the Far East,’ Department of State Bulletin, Vol. xxi, No. 528, 15 08 1949, p. 236.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Wyatt, , House of Commons Debates, Vol. 464, 5 09, 1949, Cols. 1263–64.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Dulles, J. F., War or Peace (London: Harrap, 1950), pp. 230–1.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Bevan, A., In Place of Fear (London: Heinemann, 1952), p. 134.Google Scholar

²⁰ The Daily Telegraph, 16 March 1955.

²¹ See Burns, E., British Imperialism in China (London: Labour Research Department, 1926)Google Scholar; Lawrence, A. S., The Origin of Chinese Hostility to Great Britain (London: Labour Party, 1927)Google Scholar; Russell, Bertrand, The Problem of China (London: Allen and Unwin, 1966), p. 51.Google Scholar

²² Darwen, , House of Lords Debates, Vol. 158, 24 09 1948, Col. 297.Google Scholar

²³ Board, of Trade, Report of the United Kingdom Trade Mission to China, October to December 1946(London: HMSO, 1948), p. 18.Google Scholar

²⁴ Younger, K. G., ‘Britain and the Far East’, The Dyason Lectures, 1955 (Melbourne: Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1955), No. 2, p. 16.Google Scholar

²⁵ The City Observer, 18 February 1949, citing an official of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.

²⁶ United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Vol. 4, No. 229, 26 09 1949, pp. 79–80Google Scholar; Cmd. 7924, Annex III, p. 52.

²⁷ China Association Bulletin, No. 46, 20 March 1950, Appendix.

²⁸ The Economist, 29 January 1955.

²⁹ The Times, 13 September 1954.

³⁰ The Memoirs of Sir Anthony Eden, Vol. 3, Full Circle (London: Cassell, 1960), p. 309.Google Scholar

³¹ The Times, 15 September 1949.

³² The Times, 13 September 1958.

³³ Report on Defence: Britain's Contribution to Peace and Security (1957–1958), Cmd. 363, p. 2.

³⁴ Statement on Defence (1953–1954), Cmd. 9075, p. 3.

³⁵ SirMakins, Roger, ‘The World since the War: the Third Phase’, Foreign Affairs, 33 (1954), p. 5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁶ The Manchester Guardian, 17 August 1954.

³⁷ The Observer, 19 September 1954.

³⁸ The Manchester Guardian, 17 August 1954.

³⁹ Butler, , House of Commons Debates, Vol. 464, 5 September 1949, Col. 1341.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ House of Commons Debates, Vol. 473, 28 03 1950, Cols. 275–76.Google Scholar

⁴¹ House of Commons Debates, Vol. 529, 23 06 1954, Col. 444.Google Scholar

⁴² Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Annual Report, 1954, pp. 19–20.Google Scholar

⁴³ The Times, 3 September 1954, Hongkong.

⁴⁴ Van Straubenzee, , Conservative Party, Report of the Annual Conference, 1958.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Cited in ‘Excerpt from a Letter to Winston Churchill, January 25, 1955’ in Eisenhower, Dwight D., Mandate for Change, 1953–1956 (London: Heinemann, 1963), App. O, p. 609.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Strachey, , House of Commons Debates, Vol. 536,7 02, 1955, Col. 1540.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ For reactions along these lines, see Lindsay, M., China and the Cold War: a Study in International Politics (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1955), p. 1Google Scholar; Burton, J. W., The Alternative (New South Wales: Liberty Press, 1954), p. 47Google Scholar; Fitzgerald, C. P., Revolution in China (London: The Cresset Press, 1952), pp, 25, 215–16.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Nutting, , House of Commons Debates, Vol. 526,15 04 1954, Col. 145.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ House of Commons Debates, Vol. 529,23 06 1954, Col. 442.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Department of State Bulletin, Vol. xxxix, No. 1005, 29 09 1958, pp. 481–4.Google Scholar

⁵¹ House of Commons Debates, Vol. 594, 30 10 1958, Cols. 327–8.Google Scholar

⁵² Couder questioning Robertson, , House Committee on Appropriations. Departments of State, Justice and Commerce Appropriations for 1955, 83d Cong. (Washington DC, 1955), p. 125.Google Scholar

⁵³ House of Commons Debates, Vol. 532, 8 11 1954, Cols. 981–3.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ House of Commons Debates, Vol. 475, 24 05 1950, Cols. 2186–7.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ The Times, 17 May 1954, 16 August 1954.

⁵⁶ Donnelly, , House of Commons Debates, Vol. 529, 23 06 1954, Col. 531.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ The Manchester Guardian, 17 August 1954.

⁵⁸ On the influence of context in the perception of social phenomena, see Rudin, S. A. and Stagner, R., ‘Figure-ground Phenomena in the Perception of Physical and Social Stimuli,’ Journal of Psychology, 45 (1958), pp. 213–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁹ See Isaacs, H. R., Scratches on Our Minds: American Images of China and India (New York: Day, 1958)Google Scholar; Neumann, W. L., ‘Determinism, Destiny, and Myth in the American Image of China’ in Anderson, G. L., ed., Issues and Conflicts: Studies in Twentieth Century American Diplomacy (Kansas University Press, 1959), pp. 1–22Google Scholar; the contributions to Iyer, R., ed., The Glass Curtain between Asia and Europe: a Symposium on the Historical Encounters and the Changing Attitudes of the Peoples of the East and West (London: Oxford University Press, 1965)Google Scholar; Purcell, Victor, China (London: Benn, 1962), p. 299 ff.Google Scholar; and Levenson, Joseph, ‘Ideas of China,’ The Times Literary Supplement, 28 07 1966.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ On the impact of these beliefs in general, see Jervis, R., ‘Hypotheses on Misperception’, World Politics, XX (1968), p. 471.Google Scholar

⁶¹ This is clearly a vast area. Specific beliefs and theories might in turn be derivative of more fundamental Western orientations. See Kluckhohn, F., ‘Dominant and Substitute Profiles of Cultural Orientations: Their Significance for the Analysis of Social Stratification’, Social Forces, 28 (1950). PP. 376–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Kluckhohn, F. and Strodbeck, F., Variations in Value-Orientations (Evanston: Row and Peterson, 1961).Google Scholar

⁶² Fairbank, J. K., ‘China's foreign policy in historical perspective,’ Foreign Affairs, 47 (1969), p. 461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶³ The problems of the former are discussed in Northrop, F. S. C., ‘Toward a Deductively Formulated and Operationally Verifiable Comparative Cultural Anthropology’ in Northrop, F. S. C. and Livingston, Helen H., ed., Cross-Cultural Understanding: Epistemology in Anthropology (New York: Harper and Row, 1964), pp. 194–222.Google Scholar Apart from the epistemological, there are not inconsiderable problems of an ontological nature involved in assessing the status of that which is being perceived. The discussion throughout has avoided the use of quotation marks — ‘aggressive’, ‘undemocratic’, or ‘regime’ — simply to aid the fluency of exposition.

⁶⁴ See Feldman, Arnold S., ‘Violence and Volatility: the Likelihood of Revolution’ in Eckstein, Harry, ed., Internal War: Problems and Approaches (Illinois: Free Press of Glencoe, 1964), pp. 111–12Google Scholar; Lloyd, Peter C., Africa in Social Change (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969), pp. 157–70.Google Scholar The responses of researchers are discussed in Hield, Wayne, ‘The Study of Change in Social Science’ in Demerath, N. J. and Peterson, R. A., ed., System, Change and Conflict: a Reader on Contemporary Sociological Theory and the Debate over Functionalism (New York: Free Press, 1968), pp. 251–9.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Bronfenbrenner, U., ‘The Mirror Image in Soviet-American Relations: a Social Psychologist's Report’, Journal of Social Issues, 17 (1961), pp. 45–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Eckhardt, W. and White, R. K., ‘A Test of the Mirror-Image Hypothesis: Kennedy and Khrushchev,’ Journal of Conflict Resolution, XI (1967), pp. 325–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶⁶ Holsti, , ‘The “Operational Code” Approach’, p. 154.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Lévi-Strauss, Claude, The Savage Mind (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1966), p. 3.Google Scholar