The distinctive moral personality of care exemplars

Abstract

Research examining the characterization of moral excellence has been conducted almost exclusively at the variable level of analysis. Such an approach precludes a consideration of personality composition and, as a result, does not provide a complete understanding of moral exemplarity. In the current project, a person-level analysis was adopted to assess the viability of a personality configuration distinctive of care-based moral excellence across adulthood. In Study 1, a cluster analysis revealed that young-adult moral exemplars and demographically matched comparison participants were strongly distinguished on the basis of personality composition. This segregation was largely a result of a heightened level of motivational variables and advanced socio-cognitive development on the part of exemplars. In Study 2, which considered moral excellence in mid- and late-adulthood, these results were replicated. These findings indicate that patterns of care-based moral action are more likely to be evidenced if motivation and socio-cognitive maturity are fostered in tandem.

Keywords:

• moral personality
• moral exemplarity
• care
• prosocial action
• adulthood

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a fellowship to William L. Dunlop and by research grants to Lawrence J. Walker, all from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Previous articles (Matsuba & Walker, 2004, 2005; Walker & Frimer, 2007) examined the personalities of the same samples as reported here, but addressed different issues and analyzed the data in different ways.

Notes

Notes

1. Discourse exists regarding the appropriate structure of attachment styles (e.g., Fraley & Waller, 1998). We contend that a consideration of the self and other model is most appropriate in the current context given that (a) previous research has noted this as a particular salient distinction in the moral personality (Walker & Pitts, 1998) and (b) our desire to maintain parity in the constructs considered in Studies 1 and 2.

2. Wiggins (1995) has demonstrated that Nurturance and Dominance are conceptually similar to Agreeableness and Extraversion, respectively.