Аннотация:A study was conducted to research the content of and psychological conditions for development of such characteristics of the cognitive component of anti-corruption competence as knowledge about corruption and methods of identifying corruption, determined by the sociocultural environment and learned through instruction. The authors developed original techniques for diagnosing popular conceptions of corruption, of ability to translate these notions into legal terms, of ability to recognize corruption. They also created a curriculum for developing the cognitive component of anticorruption competence. A study involving 73 students of Moscow higher educational institutions showed that such elements of the cognitive component of anticorruption competence as knowledge of the content of the notion of corruption (its specificity in comparison with other economic offences), ability to recognize the notion, ability to diagnose instances of corruption are poorly developed, their full content does not form spontaneously. Testing of the curriculum proved its effectiveness. The paper also describes the content of the cognitive component of anti-corruption competence and psychological conditions for its development.Keywords: corruption, competence, anti-corruption competence, orientation base, corruption recognition, formation.