Iryna Kubashevych
Interpersonal assessment can be viewed as essential for the formation of the first impression of a country and its people. It is associated with the formation of the image of other people with whom joint activities or communication have taken place. The main task of the assessment is to identify signs on the basis of which the image will be built. This image helps in many ways to predict behaviour and the sequence of actions. Usually, assessments carried out according to special value scales: “good-bad”, “useful – harmful”, “beautiful – ugly”, “good – evil”, etc. The more such scales a person has in assessing others and the richer the definitions of the range between the polar values of the scales, the more accurate the assessment and theigher the ability to make accurate judgments. The most important role in interpersonal assessment is played by the process of stereotyping. Each person, under the influence of many factors, primarily the experience of interacting with people, forms specific standard stereotypes of other people. Stereotypes that people hold seem to influence their overall impression of a country.
Most of the Poles’ social stereotypes about Ukraine and Ukrainians are formed in childhood. These stereotypes areearned through media, family, friends, and religion. The topic of Ukraine most often appears in discourses devoted to politics, economics, sports, tourism, and music. The majority of Poles’ stereotypes about Ukraine seem to reflect the peculiarities of perception which simplify the process of cognition of reality by individuals. The presence of a large number of topics with the mention of Ukraine, related to science, students, internships and exchange programs, prepare the groundwork for claiming that a new stereotype of a Ukrainian is emerging, namely that of a young Ukrainian scientist.
Stereotypes appear under the influence of certain circumstances, which can change at any time. However, these stereotypes can lead to the formation of prejudice, which continues to exist for many years. Inconsistency in the assessment of historical events, especially the interwar period and the period of World War II, leads to Poles’ highly negative perception of Ukrainians.
On the other hand, a social stereotype based on false knowledge imposes a certain model of behaviour, which may already initially be incorrect. On most forums, the problem of UPA seems to be the most discussed of all topics concerning Poland-Ukraine relationships. Ideas expressed on these forums reflect the opinions of the average Pole about Polish-Ukrainian relations from a historical perspective. Each of these forums opens a Pandora’s box of negative stereotypes about Ukrainians.
In summary, the Polish mass consciousness is dominated by the negative stereotypes about Ukrainians. On the other hand, the positive connotation of tourism, and cultural and scientific cooperation shows that the Polish society, and especially the younger generation, remains open to cooperation.
Literature
Bodenhausen, G. V. (1988). Stereotypic biases in social decision making and memory: Testing process models of stereotype use. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 726–737.
Bodenhausen, G. V., & Lichtenstein, M. (1987). Social stereotypes and information processing strategies: The impact of task complexity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 871–880.
Brigham, J. C. (1971). Ethnic stereotypes. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 15–38.
