Studying Values: Personal Adventure, Future Directions (original) (raw)
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RAM. Revista de Administração Mackenzie, 2009
Shared values are typically seen as one of the core aspects of culture. The usual procedure for deriving shared cultural values is through analyzing individuals' value priorities at the cultural-level. This paper outlines the conceptual and methodological problems associated with this procedure. Findings from selected empirical studies are presented to corroborate this critique. Alternative ways of measuring cultural values at the individual-level are presented and classified into a value taxonomy. Within this taxonomy past studies have so far focused on measuring values through importance ratings reflecting what individuals or social groups "desire". However, the argument is made that if cultural values are supposed to be shared they should reflect what is "desirable", i.e. what one "ought" to value or to strive for as a goal in life in a certain society. This constitutes a new approach for the measurement of cultural values. It is proposed that cultural values are measurable at the individual-level using the concept of morality. Suggestions are made how moral values could be operationalized referring to either the individual's moral values or those of a social group. The benefits of the value taxonomy for future research are eventually described.
The Value of Values in Cross-Cultural Research: A Special Issue in Honor of Shalom Schwartz
Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 2011
The centrality of values in cross-cultural research has more than doubled over the last three decades. This Special Issue investigates values across cultures and focuses on two main levels: individual and national. At the individual level, values express broad, trans-situational motivational goals, affecting individuals' interpretation of situations, preferences, choices, and actions. At the national level, values reflect the solutions groups develop in response to existential challenges and relate to the way social institutions function. The authors review the role of values at each level and present eight articles included in the special issue, showing the value of values in crosscultural research.
Assessment
Researchers around the world are applying the recently revised Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-RR) to measure the 19 values in Schwartz’s refined values theory. We assessed the internal reliability, circular structure, measurement model, and measurement invariance of values measured by this questionnaire across 49 cultural groups ( N = 53,472) and 32 language versions. The PVQ-RR reliably measured 15 of the 19 values in the vast majority of groups and two others in most groups. The fit of the theory-based measurement models supported the differentiation of almost all values in every cultural group. Almost all values were measured invariantly across groups at the configural and metric level. A multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that the PVQ-RR perfectly reproduced the theorized order of the 19 values around the circle across groups. The current study established the PVQ-RR as a sound instrument to measure and to compare the hierarchies and correlates of values across cultures.
Values: psychological perspectives
Values are internalized cognitive structures that guide choices by evoking a sense of basic principles of right and wrong, a sense of priorities, and a willingness to make meaning and see patterns. Like other cognitive constructs, values can be studied at the individual level or at the group level. That is societies, cultures, and other social groups have value-based norms, priorities, and guidelines, which describe what people ought to do if they are to do the ‘right,’ ‘moral,’ ‘valued’ thing. The study of values currently focuses more explicitly on the circumstances in which values predict action.
Congruence and functions of personal and cultural values: do my values reflect my culture's values?
Personality & social psychology bulletin, 2006
Two studies are described examining the correlation between self- and culture-referenced values at a culture level (Study 1) and correlation between self- and culture-referenced values and self-reported behavior at an individual level (Study 2). It is found that values related to individual-group relationships (embeddedness) and expression and experience of affective feelings and emotions (affective autonomy) are significantly correlated at a culture level. In Study 2, culture-referenced values are shown to correlate with behaviors attached to social norms, whereas self-rated values are found to correlate with behaviors that are not norm-governed. Implications for measurement of cultural values and cultural and cross-cultural research designs are discussed.
Nature Human Behaviour, 2017
The construct of values is central to many fields in the social sciences and humanities. The last two decades have seen a growing body of psychological research that investigates the content, structure and consequences of personal values in many cultures. Taking a cross-cultural perspective we review, organize and integrate research on personal values, and point to some of the main findings that this research has yielded. Personal values are subjective in nature, and reflect what people think and state about themselves. Consequently, both researchers and laymen sometimes question the usefulness of personal values in influencing action. Yet, self-reported values predict a large variety of attitudes, preferences and overt behaviours. Individuals act in ways that allow them to express their important values and attain the goals underlying them. Thus, understanding personal values means understanding human behaviour.
Are There Universal Aspects in the Structure and Contents of Human Values?
Journal of Social Issues, 1994
This article presents a theory of potentially universal aspects in the content of human values. Ten types of values are distinguished by their motivational goals. The theory also postulates a structure of relations among the value types, based on the conflicts and compatibilities experienced when pursuing them. This structure permits one to relate systems of value priorities, as an integrated whole, to other variables. A new values instrument, based on the theory and suitable for cross-cultural research, is described. Evidence relevant for assessing the theory, from 97 samples in 44 countries, is summarized. Relations of this approach to Rokeach's work on values and to other theories and research on value dimen-
Journal of Cross- …, 2011
We conducted a meta-analysis using the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) to replicate Schwartz's value structure at the culture level. In Study 1, data on value priorities from 37 different cultural groups were analyzed. Using a configurational verification approach, the structure of conflicting value types as predicted by Schwartz was replicated. Significant correlations with Schwartz's two-dimensional configuration of the Schwartz Value Survey (SVS) confirmed this finding. Furthermore, a set of value items that was not included in Schwartz's analysis formed a new value type labeled self-fulfilled connectedness (SFC). It contains values that represent profound attachment to others as well as attributes of self-fulfillment. In Study 2, it was proposed that SFC may be an individualistic value orientation that shares some similarity with Autonomy but includes relational values as a main component. Correlations with country indices of subjective well-being, post-materialism, and socioeconomic development supported the idea that it is related to happiness, the pursuit of non-material goals, and endorsed in countries in which basic needs are fulfilled. Its theoretical meaning in the context of Schwartz's culture-level value theory is discussed.