Values

Values are abstract notions of what is important in one’s life. In common language, the term values is often used interchangeably with morality and ethics. In psychology, however, values refer to desirable goals that motivate behavior, apply across situations, and are found in the level of individuals, organizations, and societies. Values differ in their importance, depending on culture and even the individual. For example, East Asian cultures are traditionally regarded as fostering values that emphasize the group’s needs, whereas Western cultures are considered as fostering values that emphasize the individual’s needs. These differences in values lead to differences in behavior, therefore, making values important factors in understanding human behavior and social phenomena. Even within cultures, there are substantial individual differences in values. This entry describes a central approach to the study of values, continues with an explanation of the association between values and behavior, and concludes with a discussion of value stability and change.

Values are core concepts in people’s self-representations and are related to other personality characteristics, including traits, needs, and attitudes. For example, individuals who value independent thought are usually more open to new experiences. However, if traits can be defined as one’s typical patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, values are defined as abstract notions used as criteria to evaluate and motivate behavior. People actively decide how important certain values are to them, unlike basic needs, with some values being more important than others, unlike attitudes.

One of the most influential approaches to the study of values is Shalom Schwartz’s theory of basic values. Schwartz defined ten broad values that differ in their motivational goal and organized them along two bipolar dimensions: self-enhancement versus self-transcendence values and openness to change versus conservation values. The self-enhancement pole includes power (social status and dominance over people and resources) and achievement (personal success according to social norms) values. In comparison, the self-transcendence pole includes universalism (understanding, tolerance, [Page 2292]and protection for the welfare of others and for nature) and benevolence (preserving and improving the welfare of one’s close ones) values.

The openness-to-change pole includes self-direction (independent thought and action) and stimulation (excitement, novelty, and challenge in life). In contrast, the conservation pole includes security (stability of society, relationship, and of self), conformity (restraining oneself to obey social expectations or norms), and tradition values (accepting the customs in one’s culture or religious affiliation). Hedonism values (pleasure or sensuous gratification for oneself) are close to both openness to change and self-enhancement. Pursuing any one value may be compatible with pursuing some specific values while conflicting with others. For example, pursuing conformity values tends to be compatible with pursuing tradition values and conflicting with the pursuit of self-direction values.

Schwartz proposed a circular model, which is organized according to three principles (see Figure 1). First, value types that are similar in their motivational goals appear next to each other and types that are incompatible in their motivational goals appear opposite each other. Second, the value dimensions differ in their focus of interest. Openness to change and self-enhancement values [Page 2293]focus on the individual’s needs and characteristics, whereas conservation and self-transcendence values focus on the way the individual relates to others. Third, values differ in their relatedness to anxiety. Self-enhancement and conservation values are self-protective values which serve to cope with anxiety from uncertainty and promote goals of prevention of loss, and self-transcending and openness-to-change values express anxiety-free motivations (motivate people when they do not experience anxiety) and promote self-expansion and growth.

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