The paper presents an attempt to study national-ethnic images and cultural distances with a new conceptual approach and a revival of the Buchanan–Cantril-technique utilizing contemporary network methodology. The conceptual framework related to cognitive maps derived from perceived attributes of other nations and their own called for a renewed application of the catnet concept introduced by Harrison White. Our survey took place in 2016/17, administered online in a joint project with samples of Greek and Hungarian internet users. Respondents’ three choices out of sixteen adjectives for six national/ethnic objects (Americans, Greeks, Hungarians, Russians, Arabs, and Germans) provided the basic data for mapping national stereotypes and their configurations. The analyses build on the conceptual separation of ingroup and outgroup foci, the distinction of the stereotypes alongside the dimensions of warmth and competence, and the differentiation of cognitive–instrumental, expressive–self-presentational and ruling–symbolic skills/knowledge styles. The visual patterns outlined by Ucinet/Netdraw two-mode analyses manifest varieties of semantic networks under various sociocultural settings and historical-political backgrounds. Our findings, employing a selected set of segmentation criteria, show the impact of recent financial and migration crises on the cognitive maps of various segments of the Greek and Hungarian study populations.