Abstract
The article reveals the results of a decade-long empirical study of ideas about conscience among students. The study is a monocultural and cross-cultural analysis of ideas about conscience shared by Russian and Chinese students of humanities as well as Russian seminarians. A monocultural study compared the samples of Russian humanities students and seminarians. A significantly higher level of positiveness of the image of conscience was found in the group of seminarians receiving spiritual education. A cross-cultural study that lasted from 2011 to 2019 explored the nature of changes in ideas about conscience as well as changes in the degree of their positivity among Russian and Chinese students. In 2011 both Chinese and Russian students showed no statistically significant difference in the positivity of ideas about conscience, while in 2019 the views of Chinese students turned out to be significantly more positive. Presumably, these results indicate the transformation of morality experienced by Russian youth in the wake of social changes in Russia. However, the ideas about conscience obtained from the sample of Chinese students are significantly inferior in terms of positivity to Russian seminarians. These results convincingly indicate that spiritual life, constant spiritual self-improvement as well as the value system with the priority of spiritual interests over consumerism makes a significant contribution to the formation of ideas about conscience. The results of a decade-long research provide evidence that the ideas of students about conscience are dynamic; they evolve from generation to generation and reflect cultural, social and spiritual experience of young people.
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