ISSN 2520-6265 (print)
ISSN 2520-6273 (online)
Author:
V. O. Vasiutynskyi, DSc. in Psychology Sciences, Professor,
Chief Researcher, Dpt. of Mass and Communities Psychology,
Institute for Social and Political Psychology, NAES of Ukraine
ORCID: 0000-0002-9808-4550
Scopus ID: 57213606129
E-mail: vadymvas55@gmail.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/upj.2025.1(23).2
Article Information
Issue: 1(23) 2025, pages: 27-40
Language: Ukrainian
Received: 15.04.2025
1st Revision: 18.04.2025
Accepted: 21.04.2025
This article presents the results of an empirical investigation into Ukrainian students’ evaluative perceptions of cognitive and behavioral biases attributed to Ukrainians and neighboring ethnic groups. Based on these perceptions, the study assesses the perceived mental distance between Ukrainians and their neighbors, particularly Russians.
At the preliminary stage, 60 biases were selected from over 200 identified in the literature, based on expert judgment. In the first phase of the study, 168 psychology students assessed the degree of similarity between Ukrainians and Russians across these biases. From these assessments, ten traits with the highest perceived similarity were identified.
In the second phase, a questionnaire comprising these ten traits and six additional expert-selected items was administered to 134 students. Respondents evaluated Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Moldovans, Poles, Romanians, Slovaks, and Hungarians. The highest number of positive correlations in trait evaluations was found between Ukrainians and Poles, as well as Romanians, while negative correlations emerged primarily with respect to Russians and Belarusians.
The perceived mental distance between Ukrainians and each of the other national groups was calculated as the mean absolute difference in ratings across all 16 traits. As anticipated, the greatest mental distance was observed between Ukrainians and Russians, while the smallest was between Ukrainians and Poles. Following Poles, in ascending order of distance, were Slovaks, Romanians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Moldovans, and Belarusians.
The structure of the mental space was modeled as comprising four distinct clusters: group-centric thinking, negative self-affirmation, reactive negativism, and positive stereotyping. The nations most similar to Ukrainians varied across clusters, whereas Russians—and, to a lesser extent, Belarusians—consistently occupied the most distant positions.
Key words: cognitive and behavioral biases, ethnopolitical communities, mental distance, group-centric thinking, negative self-affirmation, reactive negativism, positive stereotyping.
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