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The article deals with the results of the empirical research devoted to the study of Russian and Belarusian primary school age children’s representations about members of their (autostereotypes) and other (heterostereotypes) ethnic groups in the conditions of Russian-Belarusian border area. The study involved students of 2-3 grades from the towns Smolensk (N = 83) and Vitebsk (N = 84). The diagnostic study was carried out using a modified procedure by M. Barretta. The analysis of the results showed that auto- and heterostereotypes of the Russians and Belarusians are characterized by predominance of positive characteristics over negative ones. At the same time the decrease in the proportion of positive characteristics and the increase of the negative ones regarding the Ukrainians is marked which can be explained by the present situation in Ukraine, the influence of the media and public opinion on the primary school age children’s perception of the representatives from the Ukrainian ethnic group. It is highlighted that positiveness / negativeness of the stereotypes is an indicator of the expressiveness degree of ethnic identity emotional component. The conclusion about the importance of corrective and preventive work aimed at the development of positive ethnic identity as an integral part of social identity that promotes the integrity of self-image acquisition, the formation of subjective well-being and psychological security of primary school age children is drawn.

Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples` (who has been considered fraternal for a long time) representations of the modern world currently due to many factors are subjected to complex processes of transformation. So the importance of the historical period of the Great Patriotic War in the life of all three peoples, the memory of which has an important means of confrontation western propaganda, is certainly true. The article presents the results of the study of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian students’ and their parents’ representations of the Great Patriotic War. The study was being held in Peoples’ friendship University of Russia, immediately after the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory.

The contemporary world brings the problems of international relations that have reached the global scale to the forefront, because political actions inevitably affect relations between peoples of the countries involved. The article presents the results of the sociological research aimed to identify mutual perception and concepts of the contemporary world among citizens of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine on the example of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Belarus, Ukraine and Russia are Slavic countries with common history, united by the Russian language, and forming the basis of the “Russian World”. However, the tragic events of 2013-2014 in Ukraine and global political processes raise the question of how close the peoples of these countries are now and how similar their concepts of the contemporary world are. The authors used the semantic differential method, method of associations and projective questions and focused on the categories «attitude towards countries» (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the global leaders), «attitude towards peoples of the countries» and «attitude towards the language», which formed the basis of the matrix showing the key concepts of the contemporary world among Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian students of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia.