Carbon, Claus-ChristianClaus-ChristianCarbon0000-0002-3446-9347Hesslinger, VeraVeraHesslinger2019-09-192013-10-3020131895-1171https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/2285Spatial relations of our environment are represented in cognitive maps. These cognitive maps are prone to various distortions (e.g., alignment and hierarchical effects) caused by basic cognitive factors (such as perceptual and conceptual reorganization) but also by affectively loaded and attitudinal influences. Here we show that even differences in attitude towards a single person repre- senting a foreign country (here Barack Obama and the USA) can be related to drastic differences in the cognitive representation of distances concerning that country. Europeans who had a positive attitude towards Obama’s first presidential program estimated distances between US and European cities as being much smaller than did people who were skeptical or negative towards Obama's ideas. On the basis of this result and existing literature, arguments on the non-unitary and flexible nature of cognitive maps are discussed.engcognitive geographycognitive distortionscognitive mapheuristicssocial attitudescontinental driftObamamental walldistance estimationsdistortionbiasarticle10.5709/acp-0140-y