The article presents the results of an experimental study dealing with the development of the decentration ability at a preschool age. The study involved 90 children of Moscow kindergartens, aged from 3.5 to 7 years.

Our main methodological technique was modelling of situations in which children had to overcome their egocentric position in the field of spatial and motivational representations, social relations and self-recognition by description. The structure of the experimental situations was similar to the classical tasks by J.Piaget.

The phenomenon of decentration is considered as a cognitive ability to understand the point of view of a different person, and it’s characterized by its own way of formation. The analysis of the ontogenesis of the decentration ability in the framework of L.S. Vygotsky’s conception of the mind’s systematic structure showed that the egocentric position can be overcome at a young preschool age. Decentration expands as the child’s self-consciousness develops, the interfunctional relations of the cognitive processes change, the child’s experience of social interaction gets broader. The development of the decentration ability, like that of any cognitive function, starts with the social interaction between child and adults in everyday life situations, followed by differentiation of mental processes and their subsequent integration at a higher level. Through preschool age it develops from simple self-recognition by description to the ability to understand the motives of another person. The formation of social decentration provides the basis for the development of the ability to overcome cognitive egocentrism.

When identifying the age limits of child’s egocentrism, it is necessary to consider the contents of the experimental task and the way it’s presented to children of different ages, as well as the peculiarities of socio-cultural conditions of their upbringing. The experimental task, that suits the development level of children’s cognitive sphere and their zone of proximal development, increases their ability to overcome the egocentric position.

The perspective of further research deals with the detection of the age limits of the decentration ability at a school age.