Moral and value orientations as functions of social situation of development in early and late adolescence.

Abstract

The author analyses the logic of moral development in early and late adolescence from the perspective of the cultural-historical approach. Implementing the main ideas of L.S. Vygotsky on the structure of psychological age enabled the author to explore adolescents' moral and value orientations in their relation to the cultural context of the social situation of development. The comparative analysis of features of the value sphere (i.e. moral judgments, moral thinking and moral dilemma solving studied in adolescents from Russia, USA and Kazakhstan) revealed the cultural dependence of age dynamics and the differences in cultural groups' preferences for the principle of justice and the principle of care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)