The investigation of moral consciousness and features to solving of moral dilemma by young people

Abstract

The article analyzes the problem of the development of moral consciousness among young people. An analysis of philosophical teachings and psychological concepts regarding the problem of moral consciousness, its structure and factors affecting its formation was carried out. It was determined that moral consciousness has a direct dependence on the social stereotypes that dominate society, but this is not the only factor, because there are also personal factors, in particular, the level of emotional maturity of the subject, which allows him to form moral beliefs and make a choice. The theory of M. Kohlberg about the levels of development of moral consciousness was taken as the basis of the empirical research. For the empirical stage of the research, the method of moral dilemmas of M. Kohlberg was used. As a result, it was established that almost a third of youths have a low level of moral development, and their moral choice is based on coercion or material benefit from an act. A little more than half of the subjects have reached the third and fourth stages of moral development, where social needs and relationships with others are decisive in moral choices. At this stage, a person is restrained from immoral acts by condemnation from others and the law. A positive point at this stage is the awareness of social benefit or harm from an act, moving away from purely selfish considerations. Persons with a high level of moral development were also identified during the study, but their number is insignificant and makes up 10% of the total number of subjects.
Statistical analysis showed the presence of low and average indicators of the level of moral development among young people, which indicates selfish orientation and emotional immaturity in a significant number of respondents, the dominance of stereotypes of benefit or coercion in compliance with moral norms. This requires the development of a global social strategy for the development of the moral consciousness of young people.