DIALOGUE WITH THE CLASSICS Moral development of the child's personality in the mirror of culture

Abstract

Morality is a topic that is usually left at the mercy of fiction andreligion. It becomes the subject of scientific research much lessoften than other psychological problems. This article revisits theclassical approaches of Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg regarding the child’s moral development, as well as Aleksei Leontyev’s idea about the competition of motives and self-construction of the personality as the origins of the moral. The features of the child's mastering of norms and rules are considered not only as a psychological problem, but also in the historical and cultural contexts. The non-conventionality of the child’s norms can be related to socio-cultural phenomena such as child accusers and child's denunciations. This article points out that cultures and social systems differ not only in their understanding of what is"good" and what is "evil", but also in the fact that they create the preconditions for various moral modes, such as strategies of choice and decision-making in various life situations.