WHO CARES? THE EFFECT OF GENDER AND CONTEXT ON THE SELF AND MORAL REASONING

Theorists suggest that gender differences in moral reasoning are due to differences in the self-concept, with women feeling connected to others and using a care approach, whereas men feel separate from others and adopt a justice approach. Using a self-categorization analysis, the current research suggests that the nature of the self–other relationship, rather than gender, predicts moral reasoning. Study 1 found moral reasoning to be dependent upon the social distance between the self and others, with a care-based approach more likely when interacting with a friend than a stranger. Study 2 suggests that when individuals see others as ingroup members they are more likely to utilize care-based moral reasoning than when others are seen as outgroup members. Further, traditional gender differences in moral reasoning were found only when gender was made salient. These studies suggest that both the self and moral reasoning are better conceptualized as fluid and context dependent.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MORAL REASONING Stable or Situational?

Some researchers have proposed that women prefer care reasoning, which considers issues of need and sacrifice, and men prefer justice reasoning, which considers issues of fairness and rights. However, differences in approach to moral reasoning may be due to the different types of dilemmas women and men encounter rather than to differences in the ways men and women approach moral problems. The present study employed parenting dilemmas to determine whether restriction of domain would reduce gender differences in moral reasoning orientation. Dilemmas were presented or elicited and differed in difficulty, importance, and personal relevance to investigate the relationship between situational characteristics and care or justice reasoning. Women and men did not differ in their use of care or justice reasoning when the domain was restricted, supporting the conclusion that differences in moral reasoning orientation result from differences in current life situations rather than from stable gender characteristics.     

Gender differences in moral orientation: a meta-analysis

C. Gilligan's (1982) critique of L. Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning and her assertion that two modes of moral reasoning (justice and care) exist have been the subject of debate within the field of psychology for more than 15 years. This meta-analysis was conducted to review quantitatively the work on gender differences in moral orientation. The meta-analysis revealed small differences in the care orientation favoring females (d = -.28) and small differences in the justice orientation favoring males (d = .19). Together, the moderator variables accounted for 16% of the variance in the effect sizes for care reasoning and 17% of the variance in the effect sizes for justice reasoning. These findings do not offer strong support for the claim that the care orientation is used predominantly by women and that the justice orientation is used predominantly by men.     

Social reasoning about ‘second‐shift’ parenting

The present study investigated children's and adolescents’ social reasoning about parenting roles in the home, specifically ‘second‐shift parenting’ by a mother or father. Surveys were administered to children (age 10) and adolescents (age 13), nearly evenly divided by gender (N= 200) in which two hypothetical scenarios were evaluated. Participants were asked to evaluate and justify second‐shift parenting arrangements for the family overall, for the parent in the role, and for the child in the family. Results showed that participants expected mothers rather than fathers to take on the second‐shift role, and second‐shift parenting was evaluated as more unfair for fathers than for mothers. Personal choice reasoning was used for justifying arrangements for the second‐shift parent and moral reasoning was used for justifying arrangements for the child. Social reasoning about the context of parental caretaking roles was multifaceted and varied by age and gender of participant more so than by self‐reported personal family arrangements.     

Self‐efficacy and justice perceptions in personnel selection: A moderated mediation model

The study investigated the role of self‐efficacy (general and task‐specific) and justice perceptions in determining the expectations of success in personnel selection procedures. We hypothesized that personnel selection self‐efficacy mediated the relationship between general self‐efficacy and outcome expectations, and that justice perceptions moderated these relationships. Our sample consisted of 206 respondents who had just graduated or were about to graduate and had previous experience in selection procedures. The moderated mediation model indicated that personnel selection self‐efficacy mediated the relationship between general self‐efficacy and outcome expectations, but only in the case of high justice perceptions, whereas general self‐efficacy had a direct effect on outcome expectations only in the case of low justice perceptions. The findings encourage more research on applicants’ expectations.     

The relationships among parental psychological control/autonomy support,self‐trouble,and internalizing problems across adolescent genders

This study aimed to explore the relationships among early adolescents’ perceived parental psychological control/autonomy support, self‐trouble, and internalizing problems as well as the potential gender differences in these relationships. Multiple‐group path analysis was performed on the data collected from 1,089 adolescents in Beijing junior high schools. Results revealed that parental psychological control (autonomy support) was associated with adolescents’ more (fewer) internalizing problems, and self‐trouble acted as a mediator in these two relationships. Moreover, only the indirect relationship between parental autonomy support and internalizing problems via self‐trouble was moderated by gender, with girls showing a little stronger indirect effect than boys, and specifically, it was the relationship between autonomy support and self‐trouble that existed gender differences, with girls showing higher coefficient than boys. The relationship between parental psychological control/autonomy support and early adolescents’ internalizing problems was discussed with regard to self‐trouble and gender differences.     

Gender differences in distributive justice preferences: The impact of domain

Past research has found that distributive justice preferences vary markedly both as a function of gender of allocator and the domain in which outcomes or rewards are allocated (e.g., relationships vs. work contexts). This study examined the interaction of these two factors in determining distributive justice preferences. Subjects were asked to fill out two scales designed to assess the degree to which their general distributive preferences in work contexts and in relationships were benevolent (prefer inputs to exceed outcomes), equity sensitive (prefer outcome/input ratios to be equal), or entitled (prefer outcomes to exceed inputs). Results revealed that women's preferences were significantly more benevolent (or less entitled) than men's in work domains, but that men's and women's distributive preferences did not differ significantly in relationships. In addition, both sexes indicated significantly more entitled preferences in work domains than in relationships, but the difference between domains was much greater for men than for women. These results suggest that, when considering issues of justice, men make a greater distinction between domains than do women, and that previously observed gender differences in distributive justice preferences may be specific to the work domain.     

Gender differences in moral reasoning

This research tests Gilligan's hypothesis that men are more likely to consider moral dilemmas chiefly in terms of justice and individual rights, whereas women are more likely to be chiefly concerned with questions of care and relationships with others. In addition, we have investigated the effects of dilemma content upon orientation of moral judgment. Protocols from interviews with 50 college students, half women and half men, to three moral dilemmas were coded according to moral orientation. Results indicated that both moral orientations were widely used by both men and women, but that women were more likely to employ prodominantly care considerations. In a test of mean differences in proportion of justice responses, content of the specific moral dilemma showed a strong influence upon moral reasoning. Results suggest that both gender and situational factors need to be considered in our understanding of moral reasoning.     

Gender differences in moral development

Sixty-nine Midwestern middle-class children and adolescents were tested on justice and care orientations when reasoning abstract and interpersonal moral dilemmas. Nona Lyons' (“Two Perspectives on Self, Relationships and Morality,” Harvard Educational Review, 1983, 53, 125–145) scoring method was used to score subjects' responses. A 2(sex)×2(age) analysis of variance run on the total justice and care scores, as well as each individual dilemma, supported Carol Gilligan's (In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982) theory that two distinct ways of thinking about moral problems exist — justice and care — and are differentially related to gender. Girls emphasized the morality of care significantly more than justice. Contrary to Gilligan (1982) and Lyons (1983), however, boys in both age groups emphasized the morality of justice and care equally. Data from the interpersonal dilemmas using Lyons's (1983) coding scheme are consistent with J. Piaget (The Moral Judgement of the Child, New York: Free Press, 1966) and Lawrence Kohlberg [“The Cognitive-Developmental Approach,” in D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research, Chicago: Rand McNally, 1969]: older subjects became more justice oriented and younger subjects emphasized the morality of care. Sex differences on Kohlberg's stage theory were not significant and the protagonist's gender in the Heinz dilemma had no effect on moral reasoning.     

Gendered themes in family reminiscing

Previous research conducted in laboratory settings has shown reliable gender differences in autobiographical memory. However, these studies have primarily focused on structural or emotional aspects of memory narratives told to an unfamiliar experimenter. The present study extends this literature by investigating gender differences in social references and interpersonal themes in parent-child narratives about the past. Participants were 17 white, middle-class children and their mothers and fathers, who were interviewed when children were 40 and 70 months of age. Parent-child narratives about shared activities in the past, as well as narratives about parents' own childhood, were examined. Results indicated that when discussing shared events, both parents talked in similar ways across children, although fathers referred to self more than mothers. However both parents referred to their girls more than their boys. Regarding event themes, parents discussed more social events with girls than with boys. Children themselves showed different gendered patterns; girls mentioned self and others, and relationships more than boys did, and children mentioned self and others more often when talking with fathers than with mothers. With respect to narratives about parents' childhood experiences, however, no gender differences were observed, save that parents referred to others more often in retrospective narratives told to girls than to boys. These findings suggest that gendered behaviours are best understood within the specific contexts and purposes of relational interactions.     

Sex differences in reasoning and emotion about altruism

This study examined sex differences in the resolution of prosocial dilemmas involving self-sacrifice. Women and men between 17 and 68 years of age were presented with hypothetical situations necessitating a choice between self and other, and asked to decide what they would choose to do. In addition, participants were asked why they made the choices they did and how they felt about them. Participants usually made the self-sacrificing choice, with no differences found between women and men in the distribution of self and other choices. Choices were justified on the basis of the respondents' own needs or those of the other person, conflict was minimized, or reasons were offered that involved stereotyped statements, interpersonal concerns, empathy, internalized affects and values, or a judgment about the capacity to help. Modes of reasoning differed somewhat between the sexes, with women using more empathic reasoning than men with other choces, and attributing their self choices more to minimal conflict and less to concern for the other's interests. There were also sex differences in participants' self-reported feelings about the choices they made. Specifically, there was evidence that women experienced more conflict than men about other choices and had more positive feelings than men did about their self choices. Several interpretations of these findings were discussed.     

Gender differences in the value of contributions to intimate relationships: Egalitarian relationships are not always perceived to be equitable

Little research has directly addressed the role of gender in perceptions of self vs. partner's contributions to a relationship, despite the fact that partners in heterosexual relationships often disagree about whether their relative contributions result in an equitable relationship [N. W. VanYperen and B. P. Buunk (1990), A Longitudinal Study of Equity and Satisfaction in Intimate Relationships, European Journal of Social Psychology,Vol. 20, pp. 287–309]. The primary purpose of this investigation was to systematically examine the association between gender and the perceived value of several different types of contributions made by each partner to a committed relationship. We considered both the gender of the perceiver and the source of the contributions (self vs. partner). A sample of 212 men and 348 women (most of whom were college students; 87% white) were asked to judge the value of their own and their partner's hypothetical contributions to a marital or long-term cohabiting relationship. The results indicated that men and women generally agreed about the value of the contributions made by themselves and their partners. However, gender differences in the perceived value of many contributions depended on whether the contribution was made by self or partner (e.g., men attributed more worth to their partner's sexual faithfulness than to their own, whereas women believed that both partners should receive equal value for this contribution). These perceptual differences suggest that at times it may be difficult for partners to agree about the equity of their ongoing relationships. Special gratitude goes to Pepper Schwartz for her contributions to an earlier draft of the paper. The authors also wish to thank Elaine Hatfield and Alicia Thompson for their comments on an earlier draft of the paper and Dennis Johnson who contributed to the idea for the study.     

自我-朋友冲突情境下智慧推理的文化差异及其机制

相对于面对自己的人际冲突, 以独立自我为主的西方人在面对朋友的人际冲突时表现更智慧(所罗门悖论)。在以互依自我为主的中国人身上所罗门悖论是否会有不同特点?研究1通过在线平台招募中美两国被试, 随机分配到自我与朋友冲突组考察其智慧推理水平, 并考察自我类型的影响。对齐法与方差分析的结果均显示美国文化下朋友组智慧推理显著高于自我组, 而中国文化下两组差异不显著, 进一步分析发现中国文化下独立自我与冲突类型的交互项显著预测智慧推理。在此基础上, 研究2~4在中国文化背景下, 通过启动不同自我类型, 考察个体在自我或朋友冲突组中的智慧推理差异, 结果显示启动独立自我的朋友组显著高于自我组, 而启动互依自我的两组差异不显著。研究表明所罗门悖论可能只存在独立自我高的人身上, 并不具有普适性。可见心理学研究除了关注样本多样性问题外, 更需关注使用单一样本却默认结论具有文化普适性的研究者。     

Gender bias and moral decision making: The moral orientations of justice and care

This study investigated gender related moral reasoning in student essays containing arguments on moral issues. Undergraduate students in a medical ethics course viewed two films on morally controversial issues. The students wrote brief essays about the films which were transcribed and numerically coded to conceal the author's gender from the evaluator. Using a coding scheme originated by Lyons, the evaluator classified each essay as a justice/right essay or a care/response essay or an equal response essay. Subsequently, calculations were made to determine the percentage of male authored essays that were justice/rights essays or care/response essays and the percentage of female authored essays that were justice/rights or care/response essays. The males (87.7%) tended to exhibit the justice/rights moral orientation, and the females (69.4%) exhibited the care/response moral orientation. Several different calculations were made to determine various degrees of gender related orientations also. The difference in orientation was highly statistically significant (p≤0.001). These data contribute to understanding moral orientation and development. Interpretations are given to explain some differences between the genders and help explain the traditional roles in society that males and females have played historically.     

Children's Use of Social Categories in Thinking About People and Social Relationships

A series of studies investigated White U.S. 3- and 4-year-old children's use of gender and race information to reason about their own and others’ relationships and attributes. Three-year-old children used gender- but not race-based similarity between themselves and others to decide with whom they wanted to be friends, as well as to determine which children shared their own preferences for various social activities. Four-year-old (but not younger) children attended to gender and racial category membership to guide inferences about others’ relationships but did not use these categories to reason about others’ shared activity preferences. Taken together, the findings provide evidence for three suggestions about these children's social category-based reasoning. First, gender is a more potent category than race. Second, social categories are initially recruited for first-person reasoning but later become broad enough to support third-person inferences. Finally, at least for third-person reasoning, thinking about social categories is more attuned to social relationships than to shared attributes.     

The ethic of care development: a longitudinal study of moral reasoning among practical-nursing, social-work and law-enforcement students

The study investigated changes in care-based moral reasoning, in the context of justice development over the 2-year period among practical-nursing, bachelor-degree social-work and law-enforcement students (N = 59). Main measures were Skoe's Ethic of Care Interview and Colby et al.'s Moral Judgment Interview. Of the participants 34% progressed in care reasoning, and 48% in justice reasoning. Social-work and nursing students progressed in care reasoning, and all groups progressed in justice reasoning. One participant (1.7%) regressed in care reasoning. Care and justice reasoning were parallel in terms of internal consistency, and they were positively related to each other. Findings suggest that care reasoning follows a developmental sequence, involving three main and two transitional levels, as suggested by Gilligan (1982). Main levels include self-concern (Level 1), caring for others (Level 2), and balanced caring for self and others (Level 3).     

Applying organizational justice theory to admission into higher education: Admission from a student perspective

Applicant perceptions of methods used in admission procedures to higher education were investigated using organizational justice theory. Applicants to a psychology study program completed a questionnaire about several admission methods. General favorability, ratings on justice dimensions, relationships between general favorability and these dimensions, and differences in perceptions based on gender and on the aim of the admission procedure (selection or matching) were studied. In addition, the relationship between favorability and test performance, and the relationship between favorability and behavioral outcomes were investigated. Applicants rated interviews and trial‐studying tests most favorably. Contrary to expectations based on the existing literature, high school grades were perceived least favorably and there was no relationship between applicant perceptions and enrollment decisions. In line with previous research in the employment literature, general favorability was most strongly related to face validity, study‐relatedness, applicant differentiation, the chance to show skills, perceived scientific evidence, and perceived wide‐spread use. We found no differences in applicant perceptions based on gender and small differences based on the aim of admission procedures. These results extend the applicant perceptions literature to educational admission and the results are useful for administrators when choosing methods to admit students.     

Completed suicides in Colorado: differences between Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites

All suicides by Hispanics (n = 434) and non-Hispanic Whites (n = 3,370) in Colorado from 2004 to 2008 using the Violent Death Reporting System were examined. Hispanic victims were significantly younger. Adjusting for age and gender, Hispanic victims were less likely to have reported depressed mood [odds ratio (OR) 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63-0.97], mental health diagnosis (OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.41-0.7), or current psychiatric treatment (OR 0.47; 95% CI 0.43-0.77). There were no differences in reports of financial, relationship, job, or legal stresses. Hispanic suicides were equally likely to be by overdose, firearm, or hanging, but more likely to be in jail (OR 2.68; 95% CI 1.55-4.65). To prevent suicides, stronger partnerships are needed among public health, medical, mental health, and criminal justice professionals.     

Relationships Among Young Adults’ Marital Messages Received,Marital Attitudes,and Relationship Self‐Efficacy

The authors examined relationships among university students’ marital messages received (MMR), marital attitudes, and romantic relationship self‐efficacy (RSE). Results indicated that students’ marital attitudes and romantic relationship status predicted their level of RSE. The authors found differences in MMR, marital attitudes, and RSE on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age, romantic relationship status, and family‐of‐origin marital status. Counseling implications, future research directions, and limitations are discussed.