Basic Values - Trans-situational Goals, Guiding Principles

     "Schwartz sought to identify a comprehensive set of basic values that are recognized in all societies. He defined basic values as trans-situational goals, varying in importance, that serve as guiding principles in the life of a person or group.
     He theorized that basic values are organized into a coherent system that underlies and can help to explain individual decision making, attitudes, and behavior. This coherent structure arises from the social and psychological conflict or congruity between values that people experience when they make everyday decisions.
     values are likely to be universal because they are grounded in one or more of three universal requirements of human existence with which people must cope: needs of individuals as biological organisms, requisites of coordinated social interaction, and survival and welfare needs of groups.
     values ... focus on 
          • attaining personal or social outcomes,
          • promote growth and self-expansion or anxiety-avoidance and self-protection,
          • express openness to change or conservation of the status quo, and
          • promote self-interest or transcendence of self-interest in the service of others."
 
       Schwartz SH, Cieciuch J, Vecchione M, Davidov E, Fischer R, Beierlein C, et al. Refining the theory of basic individual values. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2012;103(4):663-88.

from Schwartz et al 2012 (see text above)