The Empirical Challenge of the Cognitive Revolution: A Strategy for Drawing Inferences about Perceptions

Abstract

This paper argues that while we have adopted the language of decisionmaking in our theories of international relations, we have not adequately addressed the operational problems of studying cognitive variables. After I identify the empirical challenge, I try to direct our theoretical attention to the task of drawing inferences about a subject's perceptions and definitions. I advance a preliminary theory and strategy that might guide this inference process, and then apply the basic method to a case study of Soviet perspectives on change in the Third World. The paper tries to bridge three domains: international relations theory, the psychology of social cognition, and Soviet area studies.