Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2004 · 290 citations · 27 references
Moral PersonalityMoral ReasoningPersonality PsychologyDifferent TypesMoral PracticeMoral DevelopmentMoral NormsMoral PhilosophySocial PsychologyPsychologyMoral ExemplarityMoral IssueNormative EthicSocial SciencesEthics Of CareMoral RationalityRelationship EthicsMoral Psychology
The study examined how people conceive of just, brave, and caring moral exemplars to broaden the focus beyond moral rationality toward moral personality. Three studies were conducted: Study 1 used free‑listing to elicit attributes of just, brave, and caring exemplars; Study 2 employed prototypicality and personality ratings to generate profiles and examine interrelations; Study 3 applied similarity sorting to uncover implicit typologies. Results show that moral excellence manifests in diverse ways, suggesting that incorporating a broader range of virtues improves understanding of moral functioning.
People's conceptions of different types of moral exemplarity were examined in an attempt to augment the current emphasis on moral rationality with a fuller understanding of moral personality. In Study 1 (with 805 adults), a free-listing procedure was used to generate the attributes of 3 types of moral exemplars (just, brave, and caring). In Study 2 (with 401 undergraduates), prototypicality- and personality-rating procedures were used to generate a personality profile for each type of moral exemplar and to examine the relations among them. In Study 3 (with 240 undergraduates), a similarity-sorting procedure was used to identify the typologies implicit in people's understanding of these different types of moral exemplarity. The findings indicate that moral excellence can be exemplified in rather divergent ways and that understanding of moral functioning would be enhanced by attention to this wider range of moral virtues.
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In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory And Women's Development
Gilligan, Carol Carol · 1982 · 10.9K citations