Carol Gilligan
Carol Gilligan
 
Kohlberg's research of moral reasoning only studied boys.  Science needed this study to include girls to allow a more developed theory.  Carol Gilligan followed Kohlberg's study by using girls in her research.  She believed that males and females use different moral criteria.  She argues that the males' moral reasoning is focused on the persons' individual rights.



For information about a book by or about Carol Gilligan, check the listings on this site.  Including Between Voice and Silence, Gilligan's newest book about women's relationships.

Carol Gilligan began to study and reconsider women's development because of the lack of attention in psychological research given to women and girls.  She has discovered many key elements in the study of women and their feelings.

Gilligan proposes a stage theory of moral development for women. Gilligan was taken by the stage theory approach to understanding moral reasoning. But she disagreed with her mentor's assessment of the content of the moral system within which people developed.

Carol Gilligan is an associate professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Gilligan contrasts a feminine ethic of care with a masculine ethic of justice. She believes that these gender differences in moral perspective are due to contrasting images of self.

Dr. Gilligan has been able to demonstrate that all people, including men, are fundamentally relational. In so doing, she has given society a much fuller understanding of the human condition.

Carol Gilligan, the world-renowned psychologist and writer, has been named the first Patricia Albjerg Graham Professor of Gender Studies.  Gilligan is the author of In a Different Voice, a landmark study showing how the inclusion of women changes the traditional paradigm of human psychology.

After viewing these sites, now take our Chapter 2 Quiz over the Theories of Development.


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