Historical memory of Ukrainians: to the problem of psychological study of the Ukrainian-Polish confrontation and reconciliation

The problem of Ukrainian-Polish relations and psychological mechanisms of attribution of personality traits by Ukrainian for representatives of ethnic groups living on the territory of Ukraine is raised in the articles. The analysis of previous researches on the problem of representation of Poles within the historical memory of Ukraine since the independence is done. The main reasons of the formation of a negative attitude to the Poles and Poland, what became the cause of ethnic hostility between the two peoples for a long time are determined. The results of the empirical study of the attribution of ethno-national rice of the Poles and Ukrainians within the framework of the common history are presented, the tendencies of socio-psychological traits attribution among Ukrainians and Poles living in Ukraine are determined. It has been established that Ukrainians attribute higher motivation and deeper religious beliefs to the Poles. The Poles find themselves more hard-working, stable, motivated, principled, sincere, patriotic, sociable, restrained, heroic and religious. They perceive Ukrainians as freedomloving, hard-working and those who care about the interests of others. Thus, representatives of both nationalities attribute to themselves and other positive qualities. However, both Ukrainians and Poles, consider themselves "better" in comparison with each other, what can be regarded as a cause of psychological barriers to overcoming historical contradictions and finding ways of reconciliation.