Autostereotipi i heterostereotipi Srba u Srbiji

Abstract

Research conducted on the sample of 400 citizens of Serb nationality was aimed at establishing the kind of image Serbs have about their own and the neighboring nations, and to what extent the image depends on the regional location, education level, authoritarianism and nationalism. The subjects assessed 10 nations by means of 15 attribute pairs. The results showed that an exceptionally positive autostereotype differed essentially from heterostereotypes, whereby the stereotypes of nations with which there had been conflicts in recent past - Croats, Muslims and especially Albanians were considerably more negative than the others. Gender, age and regional location did not prove to be significant, whereas the lower level of education, higher authoritarianism and more marked nationalism were correspondent to negative heterostereotypes and a more positive image of own nation. The paper discusses the relative significance of factors responsible for formation of those autostereotypes and heterostereotypes, as well as the ways of their modification.