Up to this point we have been focusing on the ways in which people conceptualize morality and nonmoral (conventional and religious) norms. In order to have a complete picture of the nature of morality and moral development, we also need to consider whether and in what ways people bracket off some areas of their behavior as matters of privacy and personal choice. The relationship between morality and personal freedom is a complex one that has been the subject of sometimes heated debate within philosophy and the social sciences, as well as at the level of public policy.

Morality and personal freedom are often thought of as being in opposition. Some philosophers (e.g., Augustine 401/1963; Kant 1785/1959) and psychologists (e.g., Freud 1923/1960, 1930/1961) have viewed morality as the struggle between the egoistic and selfish desires of the self and the rational and legitimate concerns for the treatment of others. From these views, morality is the achievement of the suppression of the passions and destructive impulses of the self-interested individual.