ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a cognitive framework that not only explains why leaders change their beliefs but also accounts for individual variations in using new information. It examines the Richard Nixon-Henry Kissinger detente policy from 1969-1973 in order to investigate the possibility and causes of learning. The chapter argues that learning depends on the complexity and content of decision makers' belief systems. Precedents for the Nixon-Kissinger foreign policy can be found in Kissinger's earlier writings and some of Nixon's speeches. Cognitive psychology illuminates why learning is so difficult in the international environment. Effective learning requires accurate, reliable feedback about the relationship between situational conditions and the most appropriate response. The major source of change in Nixon's beliefs was assuming the role of the presidency. Nixon and Kissinger assumed power with an unusually well-developed strategy for moving the Soviet Union from confrontation to negotiation.
