Who Is Carol Gilligan and What Does Her Research Say About Possible Gender Differences in Moral Reasoning?

Who is Carol Gilligan and what does her research say about possible

gender differences in moral reasoning?

Carol Gilligan is a renowned psychologist in the field of women's studies who challenged Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning by suggesting that Lawrence Kohlberg's theory is inaccurate because he did not consider the woman's affinity to caring in the context of making moral decisions. He instead only considered moral development from the male perspective of justice and rights. Gilligan argues that Kohlberg's theory "does not adequately represent the morality of girls and women" (Berk, 2010, p 409). She also suggested that his research was flawed because his research participants were Caucasian males that were well off, and therefore could not present an accurate theory with such limitations on his research.

Gilligan suggested that moral development in females goes from selfish, to social morality, and then to principled morality. Her own theory suggests that Kohlberg's theories are gender biased, because he determined that a man's moral judgment rates higher than that of women (Muus, 1988). While men organize their relationships according to hierarchy, women's relationships are based on "interpersonal connectedness, care, sensitivity, and responsibility to people" (Muus, 1988). She theorized that women, because of their caring nature will wait to pass judgment because they understand the complex nature of relationships more than men, who tend to think in a more linear fashion. She does not treat either theory as superior, only suggesting that both are equally valid. Gilligan believes that both have a place in the context of human development.

Interestingly, Gilligan became Kohlberg's research assistant after she left Harvard in 1970, where she was colleagues with Erik Erikson, the famous psychologist. Gilligan was a literature major at Swarthmore College and graduated summa cum laude in 1958. She graduated from Radcliffe University with a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology in 1960 and went on to earn a doctorate from Harvard in Social Psychology in 1964. Gilligan became one of Kohlberg's biggest critics during her tenure as his research assistant, essentially creating her views on moral development from a woman's perspective. She is currently a full professor at New York University in the School of Law. She is also a visiting professor at the University Cambridge with the Centre for Gender Studies. Gilligan teaches on gender issues adolescent psychology and psychology and culture of democratic societies.