Moral Development

Carol Gilligan’s Theory

Activity
 Moral
O Refers to principles of right or wrong
behavior.
O A conflict between personal desires and
social considerations.
 Morality
O Concept of morality is to try to figure out
what it is that people can do in order to
make each other’s life livable.
 Moral Development

Refers to the process on which a child

develops proper attitudes and behaviours
toward other people in society, based on
social and cultural norms, rules and laws
Moral Development Theory

Lawrence Kohlberg Carol Gilligan

 Carol Gilligan
O American Developmental Psychologist
O November 28, 1936
O 1958 – BS in English Literature Swarthmore
College
O 1961 – Master’s Degree in Clinical
Psychology at Radcliffe College
O 1964 – PhD in Social Psychology at Harvard
University
O 1982: In A Different Voice
 In A Different Voice
O Men > Women
O Kohlberg’s theory is not applicable to
women or people of other culture.
O Broverman et.al. 1972: tact, gentleness,
awareness of the feelings of other, strong
need for security and easy expression of
tender feelings.
 Morality of Care
O Morality is based around care for others
rather than appeals to seemingly universal
codes of behaviour.
O Compassion and sensitivity marks women to
be less capable of making moral
development
 Morality of Care
O Women response to pregnancy decision
O Gilligan asked 29 pregnant women with
diverse age, race, and social class.
O 21 chose abortion
O 4 decided to have the baby
O 1 miscarried
O 3 remained in doubt of their decision
 Morality of Care
O Abortion dilemma reveals the existence of a
distinct moral language that exhibits
women’s development.
O Language of selfishness and responsibility –
defines the moral problem obligation to
exercise care and avoid hurt.
Stages of Development
Level Description

Level 1 Orientation to Individual Survival

Level 2 Goodness as Self-Sacrifice

Level 3 Morality of Nonviolence

 Level 1: Orientation to
Individual Survival
O An 18 year old pregnant woman was asked:
O What she thought when she found herself
pregnant
O Was there a right decision?

O Right decision would emerge only if her own

needs were in conflict, then she would have
to decide which needs is important.
Transition from Selfishness to
Responsibility
O In order to be able to care for another, one
must first be able to care responsibly for
oneself.
O Conflict between wish and necessity. These
are new criterion for judgment.
 Level 2: Goodness as Self-
Sacrifice
O On this level, moral judgment comes to rely
on shared norms and expectations.
O Adoption of societal values.
O Survival is now seen to depend on
acceptance by others.
O Kohlberg: Stage 3: seek approval with the
wish to care for and help others
Transition from Goodness to
Truth
O Transition begins with the reconsideration of
the relationship between self and other.
O Women analyze the logic of self-sacrifice in
the service of morality care.
O Criterion: Responsibility requires new kind of
judgment on which the first demand is for
honesty.
O Intention (justification) and consequences.
 Level 3: The Morality of
Nonviolence
O Nonviolence – injunction against hurting
O On this phase, moral equality between self
and other is being asserted.
O Care becomes a universal obligation.
O Self-worth: you are not going to sell yourself
short and do things that are do not want to
do.
 Conclusion
O Gilligan believed that ethic of care is not
limited to females, but more dominant to her
female participants.
O Thus, Gilligan’s theory is an addition to
Kohlberg’s rather than a replacement.
 Reference:

O Carol Gilligan (1977) In a Different Voice:

Women's Conceptions of Self and of
Morality. Harvard Educational Review:
December 1977, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 481-517.
O https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caro
l-Gilligan
O http://www.feministvoices.com/carol-
gilligan/