A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON SECURITY

This paper suggests that politically rooted security problems should a lso be analysed from a psychological perspective. As individuals evalu ate the level of security via cognitive processes, the outcomes are su bjective. Security beliefs are formed on the basis of the perception o f threat in the environment with which the individual perceives a diff iculty in coping. Two studies performed in Israel, where the security problem is acute, illustrate how differently individuals experience in security, and how different factors influence beliefs about security. These results indicate that while military, political, or economic eve nts are real, they have to be perceived in order to become part of the individual's reality: external events are subjectively interpreted an d understood. This approach assigns special importance to political ps ychology in studying security problems.