Development of L. Kohlberg's idea of moral formation of cross-cultural universality of judgments in modern research

We examine the ideas of foreign researchers (J. Gibbs, K. Basinger, J. Flavel, J. Snarey), who reconsider L. Kohlberg's statements on cognitive development, which forms the basis of moral judgments formation, recognizable usually across cultures. We show the intersection points for various contemporary approaches. We describe the results of empirical studies of moral judgments development in children of primary school age. The sample consisted of Moscow secondary schools students and students of National Jewish Education Center (total 367 people: 198 girls and 169 boys aged 8 to 10 years). We used method of presentation of moral dilemma situations. The study results confirm the relevance of L. Kohlberg main statements on the content of pre-conventional level of moral reasoning in children, on the laws of transition to conventional level. They also demonstrate the features of interpretation of crosscultural universality, discussed by modern foreign authors.

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