The article investigates the world images of Japanese and Russian ethoss by means of a semantic differential method. It is assumed that semantic structures are refl ected in everyday consciousness stereotypes related to the images of various ethnicities and can be registered in a semantic experiment. Semantic assessments can be considered as assessments of emotions that arise when one contacts a certain object or as assessments of emotions arising in the course of mastering social experience. This means that the nature of semantic assessment is in identifi cation of a perceived object or a situation with an emotional state trace.