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Individual differences in moral development: The relation of sex, gender, and personality to morality
Author(s) -
Lifton Peter D
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1985.tb00368.x
Subject(s) - lawrence kohlberg's stages of moral development , psychology , moral development , personality , morality , moral reasoning , developmental psychology , personality development , minnesota multiphasic personality inventory , social psychology , moral disengagement , cognition , social cognitive theory of morality , epistemology , philosophy , neuroscience
1 Individual differences in moral development are examined, with a particular emphasis on sex and gender differences This examination includes an extensive review of the empirical and theoretical literature in psychology on morality Based on this review, it is concluded that sex differences occur with less frequency and with a less systematic favoring of males than is predicted by several theories of moral development In addition, a study is presented which considers the relation of sex, gender, and personality to morality Two age cohort samples, college sophomores ( n = 169) and adults ( n = 151), were assessed with the moral judgment scale of the cognitive‐developmental model (Kohlberg, 1984) and a newly developed moral character template of the personological model (Lifton, in Press) Participants also completed the CPI and MMPI personality inventories Results of the study indicate (1) the absence of sex differences for either model, (2) the presence of gender differences favoring masculine persons for the cognitive‐developmental but not personological model, and (3) that individual differences in moral development parallel individual differences in personality development The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to Gilligan's (1982) claim that men and women differ in their moral orientations Finally, it is argued that an individual difference approach, particularly one that emphasizes personality, would prove useful for future research on moral development