The concept of age novel formation in modern developmental psychology

The author presents her views on the development of Vygotsky’s ideas of dynamics of mental development in childhood and criticizes the concept of leading activity as the criterion of psychological age. It is known that age novel formations reflect the particular characteristics of consciousness and self-consciousness during ages of crises and stability. The leading activity of the age emerges and develops upon the foundation of psychological novel formations. The changes in child’s communication trigger changes in his/her activity. On the other hand, because of the changes in self-consciousness, the child’s relations with adults also change. The novel formations of stability ages help the child build new activity by means of new traits of his/her consciousness. The novel formations of the ages of crisis are connected to the new meanings that emerge in the child’s consciousness. These new meanings help the child form new attitudes towards his/her own actions. A suggestion is made that the periodization of psychological development that is constructed upon leading psychological novel formations may be used to create the system of continuous developmental teaching.