Transcript Values are beliefs

Value Theory
• The value theory (Schwartz, 1992, 2005a) adopts a conception of
values that specifies six main features that are implicit in the writings
of many theorists:
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(1) Values are beliefs linked inextricably to affect. When values are
activated, they become infused with feeling. People for whom
independence is an important value become aroused if their
independence is threatened, despair when they are helpless to
protect it, and are happy when they can enjoy it.
• (2) Values refer to desirable goals that motivate action. People for
whom social order, justice, and helpfulness are important values are
motivated to pursue these goals.
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(3) Values transcend specific actions and situations. Obedience
and honesty, for example, are values that may be relevant at work or
in school, in sports, business, and politics, with family, friends, or
strangers. This feature distinguishes values from narrower concepts
like norms and attitudes that usually refer to specific actions,
objects, or situations.
Value Theory (cont’d)
• (4) Values serve as standards or criteria. Values guide the selection or
evaluation of actions, policies, people, and events. People decide what is
good or bad, justified or illegitimate, worth doing or avoiding, based on
possible consequences for their cherished values. But the impact of values
in everyday decisions is rarely conscious. Values enter awareness when the
actions or judgments one is considering have conflicting implications for
different values one cherishes.
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(5) Values are ordered by importance relative to one another. People’s
values form an ordered system of value priorities that characterize them as
individuals. Do they attribute more importance to achievement or justice, to
novelty or tradition? This hierarchical feature also distinguishes values from
norms and attitudes.
• (6) The relative importance of multiple values guides action. Any attitude or
behavior typically has implications for more than one value. For example,
attending church might express and promote tradition, conformity, and
security values at the expense of hedonism and stimulation values. The
tradeoff among relevant, competing values is what guides attitudes and
behaviors (Schwartz, 1992, 1996). Values contribute to action to the extent
that they are relevant in the context (hence likely to be activated) and
important to the actor.
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[1] e.g., Allport, 1961; Feather, 1995; Inglehart, 1997; Kohn, 1969; Kluckhohn, 1951; Morris, 1956; Rokeach 1973; Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987.
Schwartz Value Survey
• Schwartz tested his 10 value type model developing the
Schwartz Value Survey an instrument now widely used
in behavioral science studies. This rating scale
consisting of 57 value items of which it has been
reported that 44 were identified as the predicted value
type in at least 75 percent of the 97 samples from 44
countries (Schwartz, 1994)
• Schwartz also tested an eleventh possible universal
value, 'spirituality, or 'the goal of finding meaning in life,
but found that it does not seem to be recognized in all
cultures (Spini, 2003).
The Structure of Value
Relations
Schwartz Value Theory
Based on these needs Schwartz (1992) conceived a circular structure
model consisting of 10 value types which included: See Page 5
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power (attainment of social status and prestige,
and control or dominance over people or
resources) I - Self-Enhancement
achievement (personal success through the
demonstration of competence according to social
standards I - Self-Enhancement
hedonism (pleasure and sensuous gratification for
oneself) I – Self-Enhancement
stimulation (excitement, novelty, challenge in life)
Openness to Change
self-direction (independent thought and action)
Openness to Change
• universalism ( understanding, appreciating,
tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all
people and for nature) C - Self-Transcendence
• benevolence (concern for the welfare of others in
everyday interaction) C – Self-Transcendence
• tradition (respect, commitment and acceptance of
the customs and ideas that one’s culture or
religion impose on the individual) C- Conservation
• conformity (restraint of actions, inclination, and
impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate
social expectations or norms) C-Conservation
• security ( safety, harmony, and stability of society,
of relationships, and of the self) C-Conservation
Structure of Value Relations
• Actions in pursuit of any value have
consequences that conflict with some
values but are congruent (fit) with others.
• Example: (Page 9)
– Pursuing achievement values typically
conflicts with pursuing benevolence values
(seeking success for self tends to obstruct actions aimed at
enhancing the welfare of others)
– But pursuing achievement values typically is
compatible with pursuing power values (seeking
personal success for oneself tends to strengthen and to be
strengthened by actions aimed at enhancing ones own social
position and authority over others)
Example (cont’d)
• Pursuing novelty and change (stimulation
values) is likely to undermine preserving
time honored customs (traditional values)
• In contrast, pursuing traditional values is
congruent (fit) pursuing conformity values
as both values motivate actions of
submission to external expectations
Super Groups and Opposition between
Competing Values (page 10)
• Openness to Change and Conservation Values
– Dimension captures the conflict between values that
emphasize independence of thought, action, and
feelings and readiness for change (self-direction,
stimulation) and values that emphasize that
emphasize order, self-restriction, preservation of the
past, resistance to change (security, conformity,
tradition)
Super Groups and Opposition between
Competing Values (page 10)
• Self-Enhancement and Self Transcendence Values
– Dimension captures the conflict between values that
emphasize concern for the welfare and interests of
others (universalism, benevolence) and values that
emphasize pursuit of one’s own interests and relative
success and dominance over others (power,
achievement)
Hedonism shares elements of both openness to change
and self-enhancement
Value SVS Items
Conformity 11,20,40,47
Tradition 18,32,36,44,51,
Benevolence 33,45,49,52,54
Universalism 1,17,24,26,29,30,35,38
Self-Direction 5,16,31,41,53
Stimulation 9,25,37
Hedonism 4,50,57
Achievement 34,39,43,55
Power 3,12,27,46
Security 8,13,15,22,56
The Schwartz Value Survey
(SVS)