ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a theory that deals with the dynamics—the sources and the processes—of misperceptions in international politics. The static element of misperception is measured by the size of the gap between the real environment and its perception at a given point in time, symbolically represented as T0. The dynamic element determines what happens to misperceptions over time—in other words, in the period between T0 and Ti. The dynamic aspect of misperception, the processes of adjustment, and revision due to feedback or newly available information can be classified into three categories: maladaptation, nonadaptation and positive adaptation. Information is transmitted, received, interpreted, and used by decision-makers in the foreign policy field as in any other. However, the first explanatory variable, the nature of the information and its processing procedures, demands an understanding of the unique difficulty that exists in handling information in the political sphere.
