Olga B. Chesnokova

The problems of social intelligence in the form of deception and manipulation in adults and children are described. The article shows that application of social intelligence in the form of deception is not considered immoral among grownups, if such application is aimed at other people’s wellbeing or against evil (external aspect). The authors describe three scenarios of children’s inner motivation development. The first, and the simplest one, is interiorization of external control. It assumes that grownups discover deception and introduce disciplinary measures. This restores compliant conduct, however shifting a child’s autonomous moral choice to the normative area of socially controlled behaviour. The second possible scenario – is “cognitive identification”. As the number of cases suitable for the child reaching his goals by deception grows, and the contradiction between the “private” and “public” self-image child tried to reduce this conflict (cognitive dissonance). To do it child identifies himself with his “public” self-image in the same way that children identify with the role of a boy or girl. The third scenario is the “emotional identification”: children whose parents are usually loving, understanding the needs of the child exhibit mature forms of moral and social behavior. Conversely, parents who pay little attention to children, who are emotionally cool and focus on punishment in the process of moral education, usually have children who are low on the scale of socio-moral maturity. In children, the use of social intelligence for deception of grownups constitutes the necessary predecessor of autonomous moral choice and subsequent development of inner moral motivation (inner aspect).

Traditionally family reading had educational and training functions. Recently, however, interest in this type of activity has reduced. The paper analyzes the developmental effect of relatively little-known form of family reading – reading at bedtime, and the response of the child to different types and forms of family reading and telling stories before going to sleep in early and middle preschool age. The study was conducted at three kindergartens in Moscow. The study results show that in communicating with a child at bedtime parents should flexibly use different strategies for establishing socio-emotional psychological comfort depending on the experienced events of the day by the child and the objectives of cooperation. The main functions of bedtime reading are self-awareness, conflict resolution, representation and verbalization of experience, the development of attachment, mastering norms and values.

The article describes the English system of preschool education. The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of England’s dual model of education is provided. A well-designed structure of preschool education is not limited to the mastery of knowledge and skills, and aims to develop different aspects of the child. The educational tasks include the development of creativity and formation of eagerness to learn. During various discussions the range of problems arising in front of professional team of psychologists working in pre-school and primary education is outlined. The psychologists’ working task is defined based on inspection’s reports on current issues, whereas there are no psychologists on the staff. Therefore, these tasks are often directed to other specialists, commonly to the specially trained teachers. There has developed an effective system of preschool education, which is designed to increase the availability of care for all children, but the implementation of this mechanism is highly dependent on certain conditions.

The article describes the English system of preschool education. The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of England’s dual model of education is provided. A well-designed structure of preschool education is not limited to the mastery of knowledge and skills, and aims to develop different aspects of the child. The educational tasks include the development of creativity and formation of eagerness to learn. During various discussions the range of problems arising in front of professional team of psychologists working in pre-school and primary education is outlined. The psychologists’ working task is defined based on inspection’s reports on current issues, whereas there are no psychologists on the staff. Therefore, these tasks are often directed to other specialists, commonly to the specially trained teachers. There has developed an effective system of preschool education, which is designed to increase the availability of care for all children, but the implementation of this mechanism is highly dependent on certain conditions.

The article deals with issues related to the characteristics of competitive situations in general, and those involving games, in particular, that may have a positive and a negative effect on child development depending on their age characteristics and individual characteristics. Article examines the place of competitive games in the lives of younger schoolchildren compared to those of preschoolers and their relationship with learning, the dominant activity of this age. Based on the proposed diagnostic methodology different constructive and non-constructive types of competitive behavior in competitive game situations involving older preschoolers and primary school children are described. Based on the selection of ineffective behaviors authors pose the question about the criteria determining children’s readiness for competitive situations in the preschool and early school ages.