ABSTRACT
This chapter presents interview data on ways that individual males and females—children, adolescents, and adults—describe themselves. These data reveal two characteristic modes of describing the self-in-relation-to-others: a self separate or objective in its relations to others and a self connected or interdependent in its relations to others. Through two different perspectives—the perspective of self or the perspective of others — different problems arise and different resolutions are sought. The conceptions of morality and the perspectives towards others are constructs, and as such represent ideals containing strengths and weaknesses. Research is needed to elaborate the conceptualizations presented—of two perspectives on self, relationship, and morality—across the life cycle, especially attending to the issues of change and development. Research should also address potential interactions, ways in which one orientation to morality may affect or be affected by the other.
