Mutual stereotypes of Croats, Bosnjaks and Serbs in the light of two factors theory of prejudice

Abstract

Since a number of empirical research have not shown expected correlation between negative stereotypes and prejudices, modern researchers have proposed that stereotypes should not be treated as unidimensional construct. The two factors theory of stereotypes has been proposed. First dimension is competence (superior-inferior), and second is beneficence or morality (good-bad). Only second one has high correlation with prejudices. Our research, conducted on 617 subjects from Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina, shows that mutual negative stereotypes among these three nations are still dominant, and that negativity has mainly been found on the second dimension, just as mentioned theory proposed.