Participants from an individualistic society (USA) were compared with participants from a collectivistic society (Turkey) in terms of moral reasoning and orientation (justice and care). A total of 396 undergraduates (203 U.S. students, 193 Turkish students) between the ages of 18 and 46 years were administered the original version of the Defining Issues Test and the Measure of Moral Orientation. Turkish participants received higher mean principled scores than did the U.S. participants, and female participants received higher mean principled scores than did male participants. Turkish participants also scored significantly higher on the justice and care orientations than U.S. participants, and female participants scored significantly higher on the justice and care orientations than male participants.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Al-AnsariE. M. (2002) Effects of gender and education on the moral reasoning of Kuwait university students. Social Behavior and Personality, 30, 75–82.
2.
AygunZ. K., & ImamogluE. O. (2002) Value domains of Turkish adults and university students. The Journal of Social Psychology, 142, 333–351.
3.
BaekH. (2002) A comparative study of moral development of Korean and British children. Journal of Moral Education, 31, 373–391.
4.
BealC. R.GarrodA.RubenK., & StewartT. L. (1997) Children's moral orientation: does the gender of the dilemma character make a difference?Journal of Moral Education, 26, 45–58.
5.
EdwardsC. P. (1975) Societal complexity and moral development: a Kenyan study. Ethos, 3, 505–527.
6.
GibbsJ. C.BasingerK. S., & FullerD. (1992) Moral maturity: measuring the development of sociomoral reflection. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
7.
GibbsJ. C.BasingerK. S.GrimeR. L., & SnareyJ. R. (2007) Moral judgment development across cultures: revisiting Kohlberg's universality claims. Developmental Review, 27, 443–532.
8.
GielenU. P. (1996) Moral reasoning in cross-cultural perspective: a review of Kohlbergian research. World Psychology, 2, 313–333.
9.
GielenU. P.CruickshankH.JohnstonA. F.SwanzeyB., & AvellaniJ. (1986) The development of moral reasoning in Belize, Trinidad-Tobago, and the U.S.A. Behavior Science Research, 20, 178–207.
10.
GielenU. P., & MarkoulisD. C. (1994) Preference for principled moral reasoning: a developmental and cross-cultural perspectives. In AdlerL. L. & GielenU. P. (Eds.), Cross-cultural topics in psychology. Westport, CT: Greenwood. Pp. 73–87.
11.
GilliganC. (1982) In a different voice: psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univer. Press.
12.
GilliganC., & AttanucciJ. (1988) Two moral orientations. In GilliganC.WardJ. V.TaylorJ. M., & BardigeB. (Eds.), Mapping the moral domain: a contribution of women's thinking to psychological theory and education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univer. Press. Pp. 73–86.
13.
GravetterF. J., & WallnauL. B. (2000) Statistics for the behavioral sciences. (5th ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
14.
JadackR. A.HydeJ. S.MooreC. F., & KellerM. L. (1995) Moral reasoning about sexually transmited diseases. Child Development, 66, 167–177.
15.
JaffeeS., & HydeJ. S. (2000) Gender differences in moral orientation: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 703–726.
16.
KackarH., & RiqueJ. (2004) The moral orientations of justice and care in relation to peace: a study with Turkish and American college students. Unpublished master's thesis, Northern Illinois Univer., DeKalb.
17.
KohlbergL. (1976) Moral stages and moralization. In LickonaT. (Ed.), Moral development and behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston. Pp. 31–53.
18.
KongarE. (2005) 21. Yuzyilda Turkiye: 2000'li yillarda Turkiye'nin toplumsal yapisi. Cagaloglu, Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi.
19.
KozanM. K., & ErginC. (1998) Preference for third party help in conflict management in the United States and Turkey: an experimental study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29, 525–539.
20.
KuyasN. F. (1982) The effects of female labor on power relations in the urban Turkish family. In KagitcibasiC. & SunarD. (Eds.), Sex roles, family, and community in Turkey. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univer. Press. Pp. 181–205.
21.
LiddellD. L.HalpinG., & HalpinW. G. (1992) The measure of moral orientation: measuring the ethics of care and justice. Journal of College Student Development, 33, 325–330.
22.
LyonsB. E. (1996) Understanding convergence and divergence in identity and gender: insights from the work of Carol Gilligan and a Turkish case. Unpublished master's thesis, the Middle East Technical Univer., Ankara, Turkey.
23.
LyonsN. P. (1983) Two perspectives: on self, relationships, and morality. Harvard Educational Review, 53, 125–145.
24.
MenguS. C. (2006) Kadinin insan haklari. In SozenE.AytenA., & IriM. (Eds.), Insan haklari: bir gundelik hayat pratigi. Bayrampasa, Istanbul: ALFA. Pp. 103–128.
25.
MillerJ. G. (1994) Cultural diversity in the morality of caring: individually oriented versus duty-based interpersonal moral codes. Cross-Cultural Research, 28, 3–37.
26.
MoonY. L. (1986) A review of cross-cultural studies on moral judgment development using the Defining Issues Test. Behavior Science Research, 20, 147–177.
27.
NeffK. D. (2001) Judgments of personal autonomy and interpersonal responsibility in the context of Indian spousal relationships: an examination of young people's reasoning in Mysore, India. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 19, 233–257.
28.
NeffK. D., & HelwigC. C. (2002) A constructivist approach to understanding the development of reasoning about rights and authority within cultural contexts. Cognitive Development, 17, 1429–1450.
29.
NisanM., & KohlbergL. (1982) Universality and cross-cultural variation in moral development: a longitudinal and cross-cultural study in Turkey. Child Development, 53, 865–876.
30.
OysermanD.CoonH., & KemmelmeierM. (2002) Rethinking individualism and collectivism: evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3–72.
31.
PhaletK., & ClaeysW. (1993) A comparative study of Turkish and Belgian youth. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 24, 319–343.
32.
RashmiJ. (1996) Cultural differences in moral perspective. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, 56(9-B).
33.
RestJ. (1986) Manual for the Defining Issues Test: an objective test of moral judgment development. (3rd ed.) Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Moral Research Projects.
34.
RestJ.NarvaezD.BebeauM. J., & ThomaS. J. (1999) Postconventional moral thinking: a neo-Kohlbergian approach. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
35.
ShwederR. A.MahapatraM., & MillerJ. G. (1990) Culture and moral development. In StiglerJ. W.ShwederR. A., & HerdtG. (Eds.), Cultural psychology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer. Press. Pp. 130–204.
36.
SnareyJ. R. (1985) Cross-cultural universality of social-moral development: a critical review of Kohlbergian research. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 202–232.
37.
StanderV., & JensenL. (1993) The relationship of value orientation to moral cognition: gender and cultural differences in the United States and China explored. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 24, 42–52.
38.
ThomaS. J. (1986) Estimating gender differences in the comprehension and preference of moral issues. Developmental Review, 6, 165–180.
39.
ThomaS. J. (2006) Research on the Defining Issues Test. In KillenM. & SmetanaJ. (Eds.), Handbook of moral development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 67–91.
40.
TurielE. (2003) Resistance and subversion in everyday life. The Journal of Moral Education, 32, 115–130.
41.
TurielE.EdwardsC. P., & KohlbergL. (1978) Moral development in Turkish children, adolescents, and young adults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 9, 75–86.
42.
TurielE., & WainrybC. (2000) Social life in cultures: judgments, conflict, and subversion. Child Development, 71, 250–256.
43.
WainrybC. (2006) Moral development in culture: diversity, tolerance, and justice. In KillenM. & SmetanaJ. (Eds.), Handbook of moral development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 211–240.
44.
WainrybC., & TurielE. (1994) Dominance, subordination, and concepts of personal entitlements in cultural contexts. Child Development, 65, 1701–1722.
45.
WalkerL. J. (2006) Gender and morality. In KillenM. & SmetanaJ. (Eds.), Handbook of moral development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 93–115.
46.
WalkerL. J.de VriesB., & TrevethanS. D. (1987) Moral stages and moral orientations in real-life and hypothetical dilemmas. Child Development, 58, 842–858.
47.
YackerN., & WeinbergS. L. (1990) Care and justice moral orientation: a scale for its assessment. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 18–27.
