Gilligan's theory, which identifies two distinct orientations of moral decision-making, care and justice, was extended in this study. Moral dilemmas were used to ascertain percentages of care-based responses versus justice-based responses in 40 men and 39 women. Based on previous research, it was predicted that by increasing the level of…

Using data collected from 50 college students, researchers tested the hypothesis that men tend to consider moral dilemmas in terms of justice and individual rights, whereas women are chiefly concerned with care and personal relationships. The respondent women were more likely to employ predominantly care considerations, but content of the specific…

Dilemma content had a significant effect on moral judgement, with a tendency for each age group to use a higher level of judgment when the situation described was age-appropriate. Results indicated a significant age difference on a measure of spontaneous role taking: old persons made more definitive moral judgments than the younger adults.…

Describes two different approaches to ethical decision making and argues that reliance on one style over another is unsatisfactory. Discusses the views of Carol Gilligan and other feminist philosophers to illustrate the contrasting method and content seen as appropriate to moral reflection. (CFR)

Because of widespread acceptance of Kohlberg's theory of moral development other aspects of moral thinking and behavior linked with the feminine voice have not received attention. Four areas of Kohlberg's theory relevant to the gender issue are critiqued, and work by Carol Gilligan, suggesting alternative theories for thinking and behavior, is…

Students demonstrating higher levels of moral judgment placed a significantly higher priority on values of equality and mature love than did students who had demonstrated lower levels of moral judgment. Significant sex differences were also found. (Author)

Delineates a generalized difference between men and women in approaches to ethics. Reiterates Carol Gilligan's theory that men generally believe in a morality of rights whereas women subscribe to a morality of relationships. Discusses other aspects of this dichotomy including ideas of good, evil, and sin. (MJP)

Linkages among gender, decision making, and values related to moral development and equity/equality are studied for 54 graduate and 186 undergraduate business school students (48 percent females) attending a Southern urban university. Results illustrate gender-related differences in value systems, weights of decision issues, and decisions. Future…

Article considered the ethical ideals in children by investigating the child's description of the ideal person and also that of the wicked person. (Author/RK)

Surveyed 322 community college students to explore the interactions of age, sex, and role salience toward predicting value satisfaction in career decision making. Suggests ways employment counselors can assess values in all aspects of an individual's life-style for use in career-life planning. (Author/BH)

Examined differences in values and decisions among 595 male and female business students in a management course. Results showed both groups exhibited value patterns generally comparable to managers, with some significant sex differences. Place in a simulated managerial decision-making situation, women and men made decisions more similar than…

In a survey, college students (N=1,399) selected one of three job offers and rated it for 20 different job choice characteristics. Rankings of jobs and relative weights given to different jobs varied significantly. Respondents identified different values in each job and weighted them accordingly. (RC)

Analyzed adolescents' (N=500) evaluations of factors which would influence their sexual decisions. Results idetified six factors (family establishment competence, external morality, consequences of childbearing, self-enhancement through sexual intercourse, intimacy considerations regarding sexual intercourse, consequence of marriage) which were…

Determined if training in rational decision making improves the quality of simulated career decisions. Training in rational decision making resulted in superior performance for females on one subscore of the knowledge measure. It also resulted in superior simulated career choices by females and younger males. (Author)

Gilligan's work at Harvard University has centered about the study of female thinking and moral decision making. She and her colleagues tried to repair the omission of girls' voices from the psychological literature. She is currently studying boys' narrowed self-expression and wants schools to amplify children's voices. (MLH)