Ethnic Stereotypes in The Minds of Russian an‎d Tatar Youth

An important role in intercultural communication is played by ethnic stereotypes - stable ideas about the moral, mental, physical qualities inherent among representatives of various ethnic communities. An urgent task is the study of Tatar and Russian people stereotypes living in the same territory. The material for Tatar and Russian autostereotypes and heterostereotype description was the data collected as a result of a free-associative experiment among the students (17-25 years old) of higher educational institutions of Kazan in 2016-2017. The results of the study show that Russian linguistic consciousness in the Republic of Tatarstan has a higher level of tolerance towards the Tatar people. The “other” ethnic environment influences the structure and content of heterostereotypes in the first place due to the greater immersion in the culture and history of other people. The results of the work are intended to help in solving the problems of intercultural communication related to education and upbringing in a multi-ethnic environment.