Development of Moral Behavior in Preschoolers in a Psychological-Pedagogical Experiment

Abstract

By a moral act we mean an unselfish act carried out in the total absence of external control. In a number of previous studies (Subbotskii, 1978, 1979a, b) we have found that one of the methods that help to enhance a child's proclivity toward moral acts is to place the child in the position of a champion and defender of moral norms. The development of moral behavior of children in these studies was, however, of a short-term nature and pursued strictly experimental aims. What place the methods we developed could have in systematic educative work with children remained unclear. The organization of a comprehensive and sufficiently prolonged development of moral behavior in children in a situation of a normal kindergarten group was the task of the present study. We assumed that this development would result in a substantial increase in the number of children observing moral norms of behavior.