Impacts of social identity, image misperceptions, and uncertainty in China-Japan conflict: Political-psychological analyses

This paper describes a study that attempts to show how detrimental effects of psychological errors can underlie international conflict. Relations between the People's Republic of China and Japan have been officially normalized since 1972 (Rose, 2005). Despite positive rhetoric that has occurred in Chinese and Japanese exchanges, a series of political conflicts has shown how the history between these two countries continues to affect the way in which they relate to each other. With China's rising economic power and cooperation with Japan, diplomatic relations between China and Japan became highly relevant to the United States. As an attempt to better understand the root causes of Sino-Japanese conflict and to suggest ways to alleviate such conflict, the present research extends intergroup relations and conflict resolution research using both qualitative and experimental methods.; For the qualitative analysis, image theory was used to reveal images of decision makers in China and Japan and its influence in their decisions. The results showed that there are three distinct image-relevant relations between China and Japan: economic, political, and historical relations. Further analyses confirmed that misperceptions in their historical relations were a cause of China-Japan conflict, and their nature of relations changed from the early 1930s because of China's recent growth.; For the experimental study, social identity theory and the concept of social dilemmas were utilized in order to examine choice behavior of Chinese and Japanese in a mixed-motive setting. The results showed that their social identity and situational uncertainties were root causes of their conflict. Because of their ethnic similarities, the clarity of their distinction was threatened and ultimately led to hostility between Chinese and Japanese. Uncertainties also created a situation in which Chinese and Japanese became more susceptible to misperceive each other's intentions and behaviors. In other words, they became more susceptible to escalation of conflict spirals.; This study identified image misperceptions, social identity, and uncertainty as root causes of China-Japan conflicts. Based on the information gathered from this study, several suggestions to alleviate their conflict were offered and future studies were suggested. Even though further research is necessary, this study provided valuable information about China-Japan relations.