Moral Intelligence in a Sample of Incarcerated Females

Abstract

This study investigated moral intelligence in a sample of 22 incarcerated females, comparing their performance to that of 20 incarcerated males and to a community sample of 23 women. Volunteers completed four self-report measures, including a demographics measure, Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control Scale, Hogan Empathy Scale, and the Socialization, Responsibility, and Self-Control subscales of the California Psychological Inventory, plus three moral dilemmas. The main findings were as follows: (a) With respect to moral character, female inmates more closely resembled their male counterparts than they did the community women; (b) with respect to moral reasoning, female inmates were more apt to embrace an ethic of care versus justice than either of the other two groups; (c) discriminant function analysis revealed that the three groups were best distinguished by their scores on the socialization measure; and (d) females convicted of violent offenses had higher self-control scores than did other participants.