The central question of this study was to examine the moral orientation and the role of self in subject generated moral dilemmas for information on the developmental and cultural forces contributing to the etiology and maintenance of eating disorders in college women. The research was based on the theories of Carol Gilligan (1982, 1988, 1990). Twelve women identified as bulimic by therapists and twelve women with no eating disorder were administered the BULIT-R and the moral conflict and choice interview. A Guide to Reading Narratives of Moral Conflict and Choice for Self and Moral Voice provided the framework for analyzing the the interviews. Using Chi squares to analyze the data, no significant differences were found between the two groups on presence, predominance, and alignment of the moral voices of care and justice or on relationship framework, although a trend toward the bulimic sample aligning both with the justice and care orientations was noted. The bulimic sample expressed one or more of the vulnerabilities of care and both care and justice significantly more often than the comparison sample. No difference was found for expression of self care, though the quality of self care expressed was different. Subjects from the bulimic sample mentioned self care in conjunction with self-preservation, while subjects in the comparison group mentioned self-care as an ordinary consideration in conflicts. A significant difference was found between the two groups on mention of a problematic relationship with father, with bulimics describing an emotionally distant relationship with father more often. Finally, the quality of the conflicts described by bulimics tended to be more critical to self than those described by the comparison sample. Results were related to what Gilligan (1990) calls the biggest challenge of the adolescent female: how to integrate inclusion of self with inclusion of others. Disturbances in relationships within the family resulted in the women from the bulimic sample having difficulty with this task. Two coping styles were identified: role reversal and hostile avoidant (Salzman, 1990). The relevance of these coping styles to bulimia was discussed. Implications for therapy were reviewed and recommendations were made for future research. / Graduation date: 1992

Controversy regarding moral development research has given rise to a proliferation of theories competing for acceptance. For all these researchers, the work of Lawrence Kohlberg is the pivot point for comparisons, contrasts, and discussions. Still, no theories to date adequately describe and document a theoretically complete conception of moral judgment and behavior. The contention in this thesis is that Kohlberg's moral development theory should remain the base-camp for further exploration but concepts from the past as well as new components from other fields should be added to construct a better model of human moral thinking and behaving. This thesis formulates a comprehensive and more adequate moral development theory which fits existing data. Pertinent aspects of past and present moral theories are summarized. Theories are evaluated in light of knowledge gained from past thinkers and recent research. Inadequacies are discussed. New pieces from psychological personality theories are presented to replace the normally accepted concept of a unitary ego theory. A more realistic model of growth as a spiral development process is presented. This spiral model allows features of the invariant stage sequence and step-wise hierarchial development process, critical to Piaget's cognitive development theory and to Kohlberg's justice-oriented moral development theory, to exist while couched in a broader growth process that encompasses the pertinent additional features of other researchers' works. The newly constructed theory is presented. Documented case materials and portions of counseling sessions are used to show some adequacy-of-fit of aspects of this theory. / Graduation date: 1992

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between parental attitudes and moral development of a selected group of Greek children, age 5.0 - 6.0The following instruments were used: The Georgas Intelligence Test for Children; Shoben's University of Southern California Parent Attitude Survey; and Piaget's Stories on the Moral Judgment of the Child followed by semi-structured interviews, along with pictorial representations of Piaget's stories.The subjects were fifty two males and forty-eight females enrolled in five private upper middle class kindergarten classes in the Athens area.An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze two null hypotheses. A chi-square analysis was used to test the remaining null hypothesis. Post hoc analysis, using analysis of variance on simple effects was conducted to further interpret the results. The .05 level of confidence was postulated for the rejection of the three null hypotheses.The results of this study indicated that: 1) there is no relationship between the sex and moral development of preschool children, however further statistical investigation indicated significant interactions with sex by certain variables or with sex within a story, 2) there is a relationship between parental attitudes and the moral development of preschool children, and 3) there is a relationship between intelligence scores and the moral development of preschool children.The most significant psychological/educational implication was that moral development of preschool children depends on parental attitudes which influence the child's concept of moral issues. Awareness of the child's cognitive and emotional readiness to integrate moral concepts can help promote moral judgment.

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-104).

Thesis (M.S.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves : [54]-56).

Thesis (DTh)--Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

The purposes of this study were to investigate how learning disabled adolescents formulate moral judgments as compared to average achieving adolescents, and to determine what relationship, if any, exists between moral judgments and moral conduct. Recent literature had suggested that social per

The purpose of this dissertation was to undertake a conceptualization and empirical "mapping" of the ethic-of-care domain - often characterized as self-referential and lacking in rigor. The current focus is upon conventional forms of care, involving notions of moral "goodness" as self-silencing and -sacrificial. Employing a "super" circumplex as a prescriptive and descriptive tool, projected item analyses were undertaken as a theoretico-structural clarification of existing scale items, along with a provisional pool of additional items generated as part of Study 1. Based in part on proposed circular criteria, the Conventional Care Scales (CCS) were developed and submitted to a conjoint principal components analysis along with the battery of other care/dependency scale items. An examination of item circular distributions, factor loadings, alpha-contribution plots, and thematic content revealed several factors expressive of two "faces" of conventional care, submissive and ingenuous. These two forms were shown to have unique correlates with measures of adjustment, interpersonal competencies, other factors of the Five-Factor Model, false-self beliefs, and reported distress in narrated accounts of rejected care giving. Gender differences in the association between indices of adjustment and conventional care were also found. The range of conventional care was also extended through the development of scales reflecting other-directed and socially prescribed dimensions of conventional care. The factor structure for the CSS was also replicated in a second sample (Study 2). Participants for Studies 1 and 2 were composed of undergraduate students (N = 302 in both samples) who completed a battery of questionnaires in the first study and the CCS alone in the second study. Anticipating future clinical directions, secondary analyses using structural equation modelling were conducted on an existing data set (N = 92) which included measures of conventional care and perfectionism, along with indices of psychological adjustment and eating disordered attitudes. Results indicated that conventional care, for which there is little research, was more predictive of adjustment and eating disordered attitudes than perfectionism, for which there exists a large clinical literature. This research contributes to an understanding of ways in which an ethic of care can "go awry," as well as proposes a research platform upon which the clinical implications of morality and self-ideals can be investigated. These findings speak to both the constraints and prescriptions that can inform a philosophical ethic of care.

Adults and young children have been found to distinguish between moral and social conventional acts, which are considered to entail distinct domains of reasoning (e.g., Turiel 1983). Recently, research has begun to examine the neural basis of moral judgments (e.g., Greene et al., 2001), but these studies did not examine the development of neurocognitive processing of judgments in these two domains. The present study focused on detection of cognitive conflict as a neurocognitive process that distinguished judgments of moral and conventional violations. The N2 component of the ERP was examined in order to determine whether the two types of violation are associated with different neurophysiological correlates and whether they change with development. In a series of five experiments, reaction times and ERPs were recorded from 12- to 14-year-old children and undergraduates who read scenarios that had one of three possible endings: (1) moral violations, (2) conventional violations, (3) no violation (neutral acts). Participants judged whether the act was acceptable or unacceptable when a rule was assumed or removed. Results indicate that reaction times were faster for moral than conventional violations when a rule was assumed for both undergraduates and children, as well as when a rule was removed for children but not for undergraduates. ERP data indicated that adults’, but not children’s, N2 amplitudes were larger (i.e., more negative) for conventional than iii moral violations when a rule was assumed. Furthermore, source analysis indicated generators for the N2 in dorsomedial and ventromedial prefrontal cortices. The results suggest that judgments of conventional violations involve increased conflict detection as compared to moral violations, and these two domains are processed differently across development. The findings were explained by the idea that judgments of conventional violations are more explicitly dependant on rules, whereas judgments of moral violations are based more directly on the intrinsic negative consequences of the act.

Adults and young children have been found to distinguish between moral and social conventional acts, which are considered to entail distinct domains of reasoning (e.g., Turiel 1983). Recently, research has begun to examine the neural basis of moral judgments (e.g., Greene et al., 2001), but these studies did not examine the development of neurocognitive processing of judgments in these two domains. The present study focused on detection of cognitive conflict as a neurocognitive process that distinguished judgments of moral and conventional violations. The N2 component of the ERP was examined in order to determine whether the two types of violation are associated with different neurophysiological correlates and whether they change with development. In a series of five experiments, reaction times and ERPs were recorded from 12- to 14-year-old children and undergraduates who read scenarios that had one of three possible endings: (1) moral violations, (2) conventional violations, (3) no violation (neutral acts). Participants judged whether the act was acceptable or unacceptable when a rule was assumed or removed. Results indicate that reaction times were faster for moral than conventional violations when a rule was assumed for both undergraduates and children, as well as when a rule was removed for children but not for undergraduates. ERP data indicated that adults’, but not children’s, N2 amplitudes were larger (i.e., more negative) for conventional than iii moral violations when a rule was assumed. Furthermore, source analysis indicated generators for the N2 in dorsomedial and ventromedial prefrontal cortices. The results suggest that judgments of conventional violations involve increased conflict detection as compared to moral violations, and these two domains are processed differently across development. The findings were explained by the idea that judgments of conventional violations are more explicitly dependant on rules, whereas judgments of moral violations are based more directly on the intrinsic negative consequences of the act.