Attitudes toward U.S. and Russian Actions: A Double Standard

Abstract

In recent years the U. S. A. and Russia have taken many similar or identical actions, e.g., increased their military budgets, made disarmament proposals, signed joint treaties. It was hypothesized that attitudes of American students toward these similar actions would exhibit a double standard, favoring the U. S. A. Parallel 50-item questionnaires were given to 27 college students in a counterbalanced design. As predicted, most U. S. actions were rated much more favorably than the identical Russian action (45 of 50 higher, 30 significant). However, Ss who had just rated one nation's actions were more neutral in rating those of the other nation, suggesting that a balanced presentation of information leads to greater objectivity. The double standard in evaluating international actions is necessary for operation of the “mirror-image effect” described by Bronfenbrenner.