Review Article

DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0185-3

Personal values in human life

Lilach Sagiv1*, Sonia Roccas2, Jan Cieciuch3,4 and Shalom H. Schwartz1,5

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 influ-
encing 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.

W
hy do some people tend to help others in need while oth- Personal values are defined as broad, trans-situational, desirable
ers do not? Why are some people more religious than goals that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives3–5. Unpacking
others? What accounts for individuals’ differences in this definition points to their unique features, which distinguish
preferences for occupations? The values people hold play a crucial them from other central aspects of the self15,16. We next deconstruct
role in such attitudes and behaviours. In this Review article, we dis- the definition of values. We identify what values share with related
cuss some of the accumulating research on personal values. Recent constructs such as needs, motives, personality traits, attitudes and
research sheds light on the development of values, showing that specific goals, and how values differ from these constructs.
they are formed through a combination of genetic heritage and the
impact of exposure to multiple social environments, such as fam- Values are broad, trans-situational goals. Values are cognitive
ily, the education system, community and society at large. Although representations of motivational goals5. All values represent goals,
subjective in nature, self-reported values predict a large array of atti- but not all goals are values. Values are broad goals that are rele-
tudes and preferences. As such, they provide invaluable insight into vant across a variety of situations. Thus, for example, a person who
human behaviour. views independence as an important value in the context of work is
likely to attribute high importance to this value in other contexts;
What values are with friends, family, authority figures, and so on. This trans-situa-
Values refer to what is good and worthy1. They characterize both tional feature distinguishes values from constructs such as attitudes
individuals and social collectives, such as nations, business organiza- and specific goals, which usually refer to specific actions, objects,
tions, and religious groups. Values of social collectives (often termed or situations.
cultural values) represent the goals that members of the social collec-
tive are encouraged to pursue, and they serve to justify actions taken Values are desirable. Values represent desirable goals; they reflect
by collective members and leaders in pursuit of these goals2. Values of what people consider important and worthy4,5. People generally
individuals (often termed personal values) are broad desirable goals view their personal attributes favourably and tend to have positive
that motivate people’s action and serve as guiding principles in their self-esteem. However, people view their own values as even more
lives3–5. They affect people’s preferences and behaviour over time and desirable than their other personal attributes: they see their values
across situations. In this Review article we focus on personal values. as closer to their ideal self than their personality traits, and wish to
For a brief review of cultural values, see Box 1. modify their values to a lesser extent14.
Personal values are studied mainly in psychology, although other
fields including sociology, management and political science also Values are ordered in hierarchies according to their subjective
study them. The construct of personal values was introduced into importance as guiding principles. Each person has a personal
psychological research by Gordon Allport6. For the next 40 years, hierarchy of value priorities: some values are extremely important,
however, psychology paid relatively little attention to the study of others moderately important, and still others are of less impor-
values. Milton Rokeach gave new momentum to value research tance. There are some similarities in the value hierarchies of most
with his proposal that values serve as reference points that people people. Analyses of self-reports of values revealed that values that
use to formulate attitudes and behaviours4. The last three decades express a motivation to care for close others are among the most
have seen a growing body of psychological research on values. important values to most people in most societies. In contrast, val-
Researchers have studied the content, structure, origins and conse- ues that express a motivation to dominate and control others, are
quences of values in many cultures5,7–11. Personal values are a central among the least important values to most people in most societies17.
content-aspect of the self, distinct from other aspects, such as traits, Individuals differ substantially in the importance they attribute to
motives, goals or attitudes12–14. these values, however.

1
​ chool of Business Administration, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905 Israel. 2​Department of Education and Psychology,
S
The Open University of Israel, P. O. Box 808, 1 University Road, Raanana, 43107 Israel. 3​University of Zurich, URPP Social Networks, Andreasstrasse 15,
CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland. 4​Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Wóycickiego 1/3 bud. 14, 01-938, Warsaw, Poland.
5
​Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905 Israel. *e-mail: lilach.sagiv@mail.huji.ac.il

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NaTure Human BehavIour Review Article
The hierarchical organization of values is a unique feature that
distinguishes them from other constructs related to the self-concept. Box 1 | Cultural-level values or values of social collectives
It reflects the motivational nature of values: the higher a value in
the hierarchy, the more motivated the person is to rely on this Cultural values are shared, abstract ideas about what a social col-
value as a guiding principle in life4,18. Consider again the value of lective considers as good and desirable1. They reflect the goals that
independence. A person who attributes high importance to this members of the social collective (for example, a nation, organi-
value is likely to rely on it in making important decisions and choos- zation or family) are encouraged to pursue. Culture values serve
ing actions. Thus, for example, she is likely to seek an occupation to justify actions that are taken in the pursuit of these goals, by
that allows some autonomy in choosing how and what to do, to members and leaders of the collective2. Cultural researchers have
judge severely infractions of people’s autonomy, to encourage her theorized that basic, universal problems confront all societies. The
children to express independence of thought and action, and to different solutions developed for these problems, or challenges,
send them to schools that do the same. are reflected in distinct dimensions of cultural values102.
Large-scale empirical studies of cultural values have focused
The content and structure of values most extensively on nations. Geert Hofstede originated the first
The number of possible values is very large. Any dictionary con- major endeavour, studying the responses of more than 110,000
tains hundreds of value terms. Rokeach’s value survey4 sampled IBM employees from 50 nations. Hofstede identified four value
36 single values (18 termed instrumental and 18 termed terminal dimensions: individualism versus collectivism, power distance,
values). An important advance in values research was introduced masculinity versus femininity and uncertainty avoidance103.
by Schwartz5, who theorized that multiple single values express These dimensions were empirically driven; Hofstede concluded,
the same broad, underlying motivation. For example, freedom, however, that they were strikingly similar to the dimensions
independence and choosing one’s own goals all share the moti- proposed by Inkeles and Levinson104. Later development of
vation for autonomy of thought and action. Thus, long lists of the theory led to the inclusion of two additional dimensions.
values can be organized into a much shorter list of meaningful The long-term orientation dimension was drawn from the
types of values. work of Michael Bond, who sought to avoid Western bias in the
Schwartz5 proposed a theory of universals in the content and cross-cultural study of values by developing a value measure
structure of personal values. After its presentation in 1992, this the- based on Chinese culture105. The indulgence versus restraint
ory quickly became prominent in the field9,11. Schwartz suggested dimension was drawn from the work of Michael Minkov,
that values can be organized according to the motivational goals who derived this dimension from analyses of the World
they express. Analysing the needs of individuals and the require- Values Survey106,107.
ments for societal survival, Schwartz5 identified ten motivationally Another large-scale project was initiated by Shalom Schwartz.
distinct types of values: power, achievement, hedonism, stimula- After establishing a cross-cultural equivalence in the meaning of
tion, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, confor- values at the individual level, Schwartz aggregated these values
mity, and security. Table 1 presents the definitions of the ten values to create cultural-level indices. He studied students and/or
and provides examples for value-items. teacher samples from 68 countries and found consistent cultural
Some of these values are mutually compatible; they reflect differences in the two populations108. Schwartz considered three
goals that can be attained simultaneously through the same basic issues that confront all societies, and derived three bipolar
actions or attitudes. Other values conflict with each other; actions cultural dimensions that reflect contradictory solutions to those
that promote the attainment of one value are likely to impede the issues or challenges. The first issue regards the relationships
attainment of the other. For example, seeking to challenge exist- between a person and a group, and is reflected in the cultural
ing knowledge by developing a novel theory or research paradigm dimension of autonomy versus embeddedness. The second
expresses self-direction values, which express the motivation for challenge, how to ensure responsible social behaviour, is reflected
autonomy of thought and action. Such behaviour also expresses in the cultural dimension of hierarchy versus egalitarianism.
and is compatible with pursuing stimulation values, which reflect Finally, the third issue regards the relationships between
the motivation to experience change and novelty and to be dar- humanity and nature, and is reflected in the cultural dimension
ing. Such behaviour conflicts, however, with expressing and pur- of mastery versus harmony2.
suing conformity values, which reflect the motivation to comply Whereas all other large-scale projects examined values of
with prevailing norms and expectations and to avoid action that specific groups in society, the value project headed by Ronald
could upset others. The conflicts and compatibilities among the Inglehart studied representative samples. He identified two main
various values determine their structure. Values are structured value dimensions: survival versus self-expression values, and
in a circular continuum, organized according to the motivations traditional versus secular-rational values. The dimensions were
they express. Adjacent values express compatible motivations, and originally based on analyses of data from 43 societies studied in
opposing values express conflicting motivations (Fig. 1; ref. 5). the 1990 World Values Survey, and were validated in subsequent
Schwartz5 summarized the circular structure by combining the years with numerous additional countries109,110. This large dataset
values into four higher-order values that form two basic conflicts. The allowed for systematic study of global trends in value change
first conflict contrasts self-enhancement with self-transcendence. across cultures111.
Self-enhancement values emphasize the pursuit of self-interest by The cultural dimensions identified by these and other research
seeking to control people and resources (power) or by exhibiting projects (for example, the GLOBE project112 and work originated
ambition and socially recognized success (achievement). These by Fons Trompenaars113) show considerable theoretical and
values conflict with self-transcendence values that emphasize empirical overlap. Cultural values were found to predict a variety
concern for others, demonstrating care for the welfare of those of social, political and organizational outcomes108,114–116.
with whom one has frequent contact (benevolence) or displaying
acceptance, tolerance, and concern for all people—even members
of out-groups (universalism). and excitement (stimulation). These values conflict with conserva-
The second conflict contrasts openness to change with con- tion values that express the motivations to preserve the status quo
servation. Openness-to-change values express the motivations for through maintaining traditional beliefs and customs (tradition), to
autonomy of thought and action (self-direction) and for novelty comply with rules and with expectations of others (conformity),

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Review Article NaTure Human BehavIour

Table 1 | Value definitions in Schwartz value theory

10 basic values Definitions of 10 basic values (value items in parentheses)5 19 values in the refined values theory21
Self-direction Independent thought and action: choosing, creating, and Self-direction: thought (the freedom to cultivate one’s own
exploring (freedom, creativity, independent, choosing my own ideas and abilities)
goals, curiosity)
Self-direction: action (the freedom to determine one’s own
actions)
Stimulation Excitement, novelty, and challenge in life (exciting life, varied life, Stimulation: definition unchanged
daring)
Hedonism Pleasure and sensuous gratification for oneself (pleasure, Hedonism: definition unchanged
enjoying life, self-indulgent)
Achievement Personal success through demonstrating competence according Achievement: definition unchanged
to social standards (ambitious, capable, influential, successful)
Power Social status and prestige, control or dominance over people Power: dominance (power through exercising control
and resources (social power, wealth, authority) over people)
Power: resources (power through control of material and
social resources)
Face (security and power through maintaining one’s public
image and avoiding humiliation)
Security Safety, harmony and stability of society, relationships, and Security: personal (safety in one’s immediate environment)
self (social order, national security, family security, reciprocation Security: societal (safety and stability in the wider society)
of favours, clean)
Conformity The restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses that are likely Conformity: rules (compliance with rules, laws, and formal
to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms obligations)
(politeness, self-discipline, respect for elders, obedient) Conformity: interpersonal (avoidance of upsetting or harming
other people)
Tradition Respect, commitment and acceptance of the customs and ideas Tradition (maintaining and preserving cultural, family or
that traditional culture or religion provides (respect for tradition, religious traditions)
modest, humble, accepting my portion in life, devout) Humility (recognizing one’s insignificance in the larger scheme
of things)
Benevolence Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with Benevolence: dependability (being a reliable and trustworthy
whom one is in frequent personal contact (loyal, responsible, member of the in-group)
honest, helpful, forgiving) Benevolence: caring (commitment to the welfare of in-group
members)
Universalism Understanding, appreciation, tolerance and protection for Universalism: concern (commitment to equality, justice and
the welfare of all people and of nature (equality, unity with protection for all people)
nature, wisdom, world of peace, world of beauty, social justice, Universalism: nature (preservation of the natural environment)
broad-minded, protecting the environment)
Universalism: tolerance (acceptance and understanding of
those who are different from oneself)
Table adapted with permission from ref. 101, SAGE Publications.

and to seek safety and stability (security). Hedonism values share In sum, cross-cultural research on personal values reveals com-
elements of both openness to change and self-enhancement. monalities in the meaning of values and some similarity in personal
The motivational continuum of values can be partitioned in dif- hierarchies of values across cultures. At the same time, this growing
ferent ways. Many researchers study either the original ten values5 or body of research indicates substantial variation in the importance
the four higher-order values described above19,20. However, because attributed to values within and across cultures.
the values form a motivational continuum, finer partitions are also
possible. Indeed, in a recent refinement of the theory, Schwartz dis- Consequences of values
tinguished 19 values on the same continuum21,22. Table  1 presents The conceptualization and measurement of values relies most
the 19 refined values and their definitions. frequently on what people report about themselves. Are value
statements merely ‘cheap talk’? Apparently not. A growing body of
Cross-cultural evidence for the model research points to the implications of self-reported values for atti-
Schwartz’s circular model has received support in more than 300 sam- tudes, preferences, and overt behavior.
ples from over 80 countries10,23,24. This consistency in the structure
of values (that is, in the patterns of their interrelations) indicates that Values and identity
the meaning of the values similar across cultures. That is, when peo- Values are a core aspect of the self-concept12,26. As such, they are
ple from different cultures consider the importance of a value (for related to and reflected in aspects of people’s personal and social
example, independence), they have in mind a similar idea. Research identity. We illustrate the role of values in identity by discussing
reveals, however, that the higher the level of social development, the their role in two important aspects of people’s personal and social
clearer the structure of conflicts and compatibilities25. lives—religiosity and career choice. We choose these two domains

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NaTure Human BehavIour Review Article
Sel average correlations that ranged from 0.49 (with tradition) to –0.34
f-t
ran (with hedonism37; see also ref. 38 for a recent review). Findings fur-
ge sc
an en ther indicate that values are correlated more strongly with religiosity
ch
than with the affiliation with a specific religion39. In sum, religious

de
Self-direction Universalism
to

nc
ss

individuals differ from non-religious ones in similar ways across

e
ne
en

religious groups. This research thus sheds light on the motivational

Op

meaning of religiosity.
Stimulation Benevolence

Values and career choice. The work domain is another central

aspect of life. Most individuals are heavily invested in their work-
Hedonism
place; physically, cognitively and emotionally, and their occupation
Conformity is an important aspect of their identity. People with different occu-
Tradition pations are characterized by different value priorities. Thus, for
example, managers, bankers and financial advisors emphasize power
Achievement and achievement values more than individuals in other occupations;
psychologists and social workers emphasize benevolence and univer-
salism more than others; and secretaries and bookkeepers emphasize
S el

on
security, conformity and tradition more than others40. These value

ti
f-e

va
Power Security
n

er
profiles are not arbitrary; rather, the occupations facilitate attainment
ha

ns
nc

m
Co
en of the goals that their members consider to be important. Value con-
e

t
gruency, or fit, between people’s values and their work environment
is related to work satisfaction (see a review in ref. 41).
What is the source of this value congruency? Do people choose
Fig. 1 | The content and structure of human values. Figure reproduced with occupations that are compatible with their values? Or do their
permission from ref. 23, Oxford Univ. Press. values change over time so that they match their occupation and
workplace? Melvin Kohn and colleagues have examined the effects
of the different characteristics of workplaces on values. In longitu-
because both are relevant to most people, entail aspects of both per- dinal analyses over decades, they found that the importance people
sonal and social identity, and require explicit and implicit decisions attribute to self-direction versus conformity values increases to
throughout the life course. These two examples provide insights the extent that their work is characterized by low supervision and
into how values shape one’s identity and the role values play in mak- entails complex and varied tasks. These effects have transgenera-
ing us who we are. tional implications because the characteristics of the occupational
environment of the parents affect the values they wish to instil in
Values and religiosity. The religious groups with which individu- their children42–44. These effects are robust, and can be found even
als affiliate and the extent of their religiosity are important aspects in societies undergoing social change45.
of their personal and social identity27,28. People feel that religiosity The work of Kohn and colleagues focused on the effects of envi-
often defines who they are and influences their beliefs, attitudes and ronmental complexity on values. Environmental complexity, how-
behaviours. Researchers have long been interested in understand- ever, does not fully explain the value differences between people
ing differences between religious and non-religious individuals, and in different occupations because there are value differences even
between adherents of different religions. The research relating val- between people in occupations that are similar in their complex-
ues to religiosity provides insights into the ways in which those who ity. Moreover, there are value differences between people in differ-
identify themselves as religious differ from others. ent occupations, not only in self-direction and conformity values,
In one of the earliest works in this area, Schwartz and Huismans29 but also in self-enhancement and self-transcendence values. These
examined the motivational meaning of religiosity by investigating its value differences cannot be explained by work complexity.
correlations with values. They reasoned that religiosity is consistent Studies that compared students from different academic depart-
with the goals of conservation values, particularly tradition, due to ments at the beginning and end of their university studies, provide
the focus of these values on submitting to transcendental authorities evidence for a value-based self-selection process46–48. The findings
and on reducing uncertainty by emphasizing self-restriction, order, reveal that value differences between students enrolled in different
and resistance to change. In contrast, religiosity is inconsistent with departments are already present at the very beginning of the first
openness-to-change values because these values promote autonomy year of study. This suggests that individuals rely on their values, at
of thought and action, and embrace novelty and change. Hedonism least in part, when choosing the occupation or profession for which
is particularly incompatible with religiosity because a primary func- they wish to prepare. In contrast, there is only minimal evidence
tion of all religions is to temper self-indulgence and gratification of for the impact of socialization processes: students’ values hardly
material desires. changed during the years they spent at the university46,47. Further
This reasoning led Schwartz and Huismans29 to hypothesize research is required to investigate potential effects on values of long-
that values relate similarly to religiosity regardless of the religion in term organizational socialization49.
question. Their study supported this hypothesis, as did numerous
subsequent studies that examined samples from a large variety of Values and behaviour towards others
religions (for example, Roman Catholics30,31; Anglicans32; Jews13,33; Values influence individuals’ thoughts, attitudes, choices and
Muslims34,35; and Buddhists36). decisions. Their impact is not limited to people’s identity, however,
The pattern of correlations between values and religiosity was they also affect how individuals act towards others. One domain
strikingly consistent across monotheistic religions: religiosity cor- that has attracted attention is the impact of values on prosocial
related positively with emphasizing conservation values, most behavior—actions intended to protect or to enhance the welfare
strongly tradition, and negatively with emphasizing values of open- of others. In the review below, we distinguish between studies of
ness to change, self-direction, stimulation and hedonism. A meta- attitudes and behaviour towards close others, that is, people with
analysis of the findings of 21 samples in 15 countries revealed whom one has direct contact, and studies of attitudes and behaviour

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Review Article NaTure Human BehavIour

towards people with whom one is less likely to have a direct contact, the choice of cooperating with others, at some cost to themselves, or
such as members of out-groups. competing, at the expense of others. Researchers developed social
dilemma games (also termed strategic, or economic games) in order
Values and close others. Much of everyday life involves interaction to make the incentives and costs attached to each decision clear.
with others. During such interaction, people decide how much to These games allow researchers to investigate overt behaviour that
invest in the welfare of the others by providing tangible or intangible simulates real-life behaviour. Values are likely to predict behaviour
resources such as time, advice, or money. Helping others sometimes in such games to the extent that each choice in the game leads to
comes at the expense of promoting one’s own interest. Nonetheless, attaining a distinct motivational goal.
some people choose to contribute, cooperate and help others rather Two dilemma games designed to investigate cooperation ver-
than compete. Which values predict whether a person is likely to sus competition illustrate the impact of values59. Participants were
help others or not? Many studies have addressed this question. asked to decide whether to cooperate by contributing an amount
Benevolence values (one of the self-transcendence values) of money to their partner (study 1, conducted in Israel) or to their
express the motivation to care for close others. Most people report group (study 2, conducted in the United States), or to compete
that these values are very important to them17. Nonetheless, people (that is, keep the money for themselves). In both games, compet-
differ in the importance they attribute to benevolence values, and ing was the economically wise decision, resulting in receiving more
the more important these values are, the more one is likely to help money, regardless of the actions of other participants in the game.
others. Studying the relationships between values and daily behav- The researchers reasoned that competing would be compatible with
iours, Bardi and Schwartz50 found that the importance of benevo- emphasizing power values that express the motivation for power,
lence values correlated positively with the likelihood of engaging dominance and control over others, whereas cooperating (that is,
in helpful acts such as lending things to neighbours or keeping contributing money) would be compatible with self-transcendence
promises (as reported by themselves and by close others). A recent (in particular, benevolence) values. The findings in both studies
research in four countries (Poland, Italy, Russia and the United were consistent with the expected pattern.
States) revealed similar findings51. Along the same lines, manag- Decisions in social dilemma games have also been related to
ers who emphasized self-transcendence values were evaluated by social value orientations (SVO), which are preferences for specific
their employees as behaving more altruistically than managers who types of resource allocations in interdependent interactions60–62.We
emphasized self-enhancement values52. did not include these studies in this Review article because social
Emphasizing benevolence values correlated with various forms value orientations differ from values in that they are inferred from
of everyday kindness53. The magnitude of the correlations is typi- specific patterns of preference, or choice. Thus, they are narrower
cally medium-small to medium-large. People who emphasize these than values and contextualized; they are more similar to specific
values were more likely to volunteer to help others54,55, to donate goals than to values59.
money to a social cause56, or to emphasize a volunteering identity Self-transcendence and power values may not always predict
over time12. Maio and Olson57 showed that when participants were behaviour in social dilemma games, however. Lönnqvist and col-
directed to think about the benefit for others, emphasizing benev- leagues63 suggest that some behaviours are value-expressive—they
olence values predicted willingness to donate to cancer research are compatible with one motivation, and are therefore likely to
above and beyond the impact of attitudes and social norms. In a be consistently related to the values that express this motivation.
recent study conducted in four cultures, participants who reported Other behaviours are value ambivalent; they can serve more than
their values as part of a survey were later re-contacted and asked one motivational goal. In such cases, people with different value
to complete some of the survey again, because the experimenter priorities may adopt the same behaviour. This leads to inconsistent
has allegedly lost some of their data. In Turkey, self-transcendence relationships between values and behaviour. Lönnqvist found sup-
(verus self-enhancement) values positively predicted the helpful port for this distinction in analyses of behaviour in different types
behaviour (that is, re-completing the survey). In the other three of social dilemmas in samples from Germany, Finland and Israel.
cultures (Germany, Israel and Scotland), the findings had the same Values consistently predicted cooperative behaviours that they clas-
pattern, but they were weak and not statistically significant58. sified as value expressive (correlations were small to medium). In
Researchers have studied not only the associations between values contrast, the impact of values was inconsistent or weak for behav-
and prosocial action but also the causal influence of self-transcen- iours that they classified as value-ambivalent.
dence values on such behaviour. Researchers primed participants
in these studies with benevolence values—for example, by having Values and distant others. Much of the research examining the
them read benevolence-related words (in the primed benevolence relations of values to action towards distant others, examines toler-
condition) versus unrelated words (in the control condition). Then, ance towards people who differ from societal norms in their socio-
after the experiment was allegedly over, they were asked to volunteer demographic characteristics (for example, ethnicity or religion) or
to help the experimenter with another study even though he could in their personal attitudes and preferences. Analyzing the motiva-
not pay them (Maio et al.54 in the United Kingdom), and whether tions underlying tolerance and intolerance, Sagiv and Schwartz64
they would be willing to donate money to Amnesty International reasoned that universalism values (a self-transcendence value),
(Verplanken and Holland56 in the Netherlands). In both studies, which express concern for the welfare of all others, including those
participants who were primed with benevolence words acted more whose lifestyle differs from one’s own, foster tolerance towards
altruistically than participants in the other conditions. In another others. Tolerance is also closely related to the key goals of open-
study, conducted in Israel, the importance of benevolence values ness-to-change values, because contact with people who are not
was primed more explicitly: the participants in the experimental members of the dominant society affords opportunities for novelty
condition engaged in a self-persuasion intervention designed to and excitement and independence from following the lifestyle of
increase the importance of benevolence values. Following the inter- ones’ in-group.
vention, they were asked—in an allegedly unrelated part of a ques- In contrast, tolerance conflicts with the emphasis of conservation
tionnaire—to volunteer to help social organizations. Those in the values on maintaining the status quo in social and cultural arrange-
benevolence intervention condition were twice as likely to volunteer ments. These values promote obedience to prevailing norms and
as those in the control condition55. expectations (conformity values) and avoidance of anything new
The effects of values on behaviour were also studied in situations and unfamiliar (tradition values). Accepting or mingling with peo-
involving social dilemmas. Social dilemmas confront people with ple who deviate from the dominant culture conflicts with attaining

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NaTure Human BehavIour Review Article
the goals of conservation values. Finally, tolerance may be com- robustness of the finding, pointing to one of the complex ways in
patible or conflicting with the goals of self-enhancement values, which values affect people’s actions and reactions.
depending on the social context. These values emphasize self-inter-
est; tolerance towards people who deviate from the dominant cul- The origins of values
ture may promote self-interest in some cases, but hinder it in others. Values play an important role in psychological functioning in many
Extensive research supports this analysis. Attributing high areas of life. But where do people’s different value priorities come
importance to universalism and openness-to-change values, and from and how are they shaped? In order to answer these questions,
low importance to conservation values, has been found to relate we differentiate between the phylogenetic and ontogenetic per-
to tolerance towards various minority groups by dominant group spectives75. The phylogenetic perspective explains why there is a
members in several cultures. This pattern emerged, for example, in relatively similar, pan-cultural hierarchy of values across societies.
a study of willingness for contact with members of the Arab minor- The ontogenetic perspective examines the processes through which
ity among Israeli Jews64, and willingness of Israeli and Jordanian individuals’ hierarchies of values are formed.
businesspeople for contact with each other65. A similar pattern
emerged in studies conducted in Europe on attitudes towards The phylogenetic perspective. The phylogenetic perspective sug-
immigration: attributing high importance to universalism values gests that the crucial role of groups for human survival is the main
related positively and attributing high importance to conservation driving factor in the development of values. Groups, by their very
values (tradition, conformity and security) related negatively to nature, require their members to communicate about and coor-
favourable attitudes towards immigration66–68. Values predicted tol- dinate their interests, needs, and behaviours in order to enhance
erant attitudes above and beyond the impact of socio-demographic their chances for survival. Through trial and error, group members
variables, and their impact was typically stronger than that of other develop shared ways of representing their needs and communicat-
individual-level variables. ing about them in acceptable ways with their fellow group members.
This pattern holds not only for tolerance towards ethnic out- Values are representations of the socially desirable goals people
groups but also for tolerance towards other minority groups. seek. They are central to the shared meaning systems that develop
Studies of attitudes towards homosexuality in Europe showed the as group members seek to coordinate their goal-seeking activities.
same pattern. The more important openness-to-change and univer- Thus, values are a core element of culture76.
salism values were to people, and the less important conservation According to the phylogenetic perspective, the similarity of
and power values, the more positive their views of homosexual- the hierarchy of values found in most cultures is not accidental.
ity69–71. Interestingly, the associations of openness-to-change and It reflects the conditions needed for group survival and welfare.
conservation values with attitudes towards homosexuality were Because groups are complex systems, the analysis of the conditions
especially strong in countries with less progressive laws regarding essential for groups to flourish can be described in terms of cyber-
homosexuality. That is, when the social context was less tolerant, netics77. Complex systems need to develop the capacity for both
the personal values related to group identity (independence from (1) maintaining the stability of relations, resources, and ways of
the group or dependence on the group) had a stronger effect on dealing with internal and external dangers, and (2) plasticity and
tolerance. Surveys of attitudes towards a variety of minority groups adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The hierarchy of
(for example, sexism, anti-Semitism, anti-foreigner attitudes, anti- values that groups develop supports and promotes these capacities.
Muslim attitudes) also revealed that universalism and conservation Empirical research shows widespread pan-cultural agreement on
values relate directly to tolerance of those who differ from the domi- the most important values. In their assessment of value hierarchies
nant group in society72. in 63 societies, Schwartz and Bardi17 found that the two values that
Values also relate to attitudes towards members of out-groups were almost always at the top of the hierarchy were benevolence and
in indirect ways. For example, values shape reactions to members self-direction. The high priority of benevolence is likely to be due to
of minority groups by affecting how people react to diversity in its importance for maintaining in-group cooperation and solidar-
society. In an experimental study conducted in Israel, researchers ity, and thereby contributing to the stability of social relations. The
manipulated the salience of the heterogeneity or homogeneity of high priority of self-direction is likely to be due to its importance for
the religious in-group (Jews) by showing participants photographs encouraging and supporting plasticity by motivating independent
of Jewish weddings. In the homogeneity condition, the pictures initiatives and novel ideas and solutions. Because groups require
depicted prototypical Jewish Israeli wedding ceremonies. In the both stability and plasticity in order to survive, these same two val-
heterogeneity condition, the pictures depicted non-prototypical ues are the most important in most cultures that have been studied.
weddings, including a wedding of two men and a wedding of a man Although there is widespread pan-cultural agreement at the
and a woman dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews. Participants then country level, research and everyday experience tell us that indi-
reported their willingness for contact with a mixed faith couple viduals differ substantially in what they consider important. The
(a Jewish woman married to a Muslim man). ontogenetic perspective seeks to explain the inter-individual diver-
Conservation values moderated the reactions to the photo- sity of value preferences.
graphs. Participants who attributed high importance to conser-
vation values expressed more tolerance in the homogeneity than The ontogenetic perspective. There is growing evidence that value
in the heterogeneity condition. In contrast, those who attributed hierarchies are shaped quite early. The circular structure of values
low importance to conservation values expressed more tolerance is found among 5–12-year-olds78,79. This indicates that children at
in the heterogeneity condition or were unaffected by the type of age 5 years already distinguish between the different values and
pictures. These findings replicated in two other experiments that that their value hierarchies reflect the conflicts and compatibili-
exposed the participants to other sets of photographs and other ties between the values. However, the importance of specific val-
targets of tolerance73. ues changes over time as part of psychosocial development during
The moderating impact of values on reactions to heterogeneity childhood and adolescence80. Individuals’ hierarchies of values sta-
was conceptually replicated in a field study in Israel. The research- bilize during adolescence and change little during adulthood81, as a
ers investigated the relationship of the diversity of individuals’ relatively stable core element of personal identity82.
networks to tolerance. The relative importance of conservation Individual differences in value priorities derive from both bio-
and openness-to-change values moderated the effects of net- logically based individual temperament/personality and social and
work diversity on tolerance74. Together, these studies indicate the cultural influences80. Several studies provide estimates of the genetic

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Review Article NaTure Human BehavIour

bases of value preferences. Uzefovsky, Döring and Knafo-Noam83 the importance of universalism and security increased, and the
estimated that genetics accounts for 29%–47% of preferences for importance of power and achievement decreased. Another study,
the higher-order values, except openness, among 7-year-old chil- focusing on Polish immigrants to the United Kingdom, indicated
dren. Other estimates are 28%–55% for the dimensions of openness that their values were similar to those of individuals in the United
versus conservation and of self-enhancement versus self-transcen- Kingdom even before migrating (that is, there was evidence for
dence among 7–11-year-olds84, and 11%–38% for all values except value-based self-selection). However, after 18–21 months in the
achievement, among 18–33-year-olds85. These levels of heritability United Kingdom there was also some evidence for value change:
are only slightly lower than the approximately 40% estimated for immigrants’ self-direction and power values changed to become
personality traits86. similar to those of people in the United Kingdom47. Importantly, in
The particular social and cultural surroundings into which a child both studies, the correlations between personal values before and
is born and grows is the other critical influence on value priorities. after the migration, was high (0.37–0.63; 0.68–1 after correcting for
Parents and other primary caregivers are the main transmitters of internal reliability97; 0.50–0.6947).
values, directly or indirectly87. Families are powerful vehicles of value Is it possible to deliberately change the value priorities of another
socialization. Parents generally desire their children to have values person? Social institutions often seek to shape the values of their
similar to their own and, indeed, there is high congruence between members55. Apparently, however, this is not a simple task. Studies
the value hierarchies of parents and those of their children88,89. Value indicate, for example, that university training and socialization
transmission within a family involves an active process in which change values minimally, if at all46–48. Some researchers have described
children perceive the values of their parents more or less accurately intervention programmes that trigger value change, including self-
and choose to adopt or reject the values they perceive90,91. The closer confrontation4,54,98 and self-persuasion55 interventions99.
children feel to their parents the more similar they perceive their Research on value change further shows that the structure of
values to be92. Yet, much of the value similarity between parents within-person value changes was similar to the prototypical struc-
and children is due not to direct value transmission from parents to ture of values (see Fig. 1): When the importance of a value increased,
children but to the environment and to the culture they share. For the importance of its opposing value tended to decrease97,100. This
example, parents and children share the same socio-economic status finding is consistent with the view that values form a consistent
and both are exposed to the same cultural institutions7. meaning system. A change in one aspect of the system is accompa-
As children enter adolescence, they gain increased influence nied by consistent changes in other parts of the system.
over the environment to which they are exposed. They are freer
to choose their friends and shape a social network93. Adolescents Concluding remarks
become more and more embedded in social institutions outside Values are a core aspect of people’s identity and they affect their atti-
the family where they may acquire values that contribute to their tudes and behaviours. In this Review article we have drawn from
unique value hierarchies. research conducted in many sub-disciplines of psychology: per-
In sum, research has revealed many factors affecting the devel- sonality, social, developmental, occupational, organizational and
opment of values, ranging from genetic factors, to the immediate cross-cultural. Together, this research shows that values can serve
social environment, to the impact of societal institutions such as as a unifying construct that bridges sub-disciplines of psychology.
family and school, to the impact of societal culture. To date, no Studying values provides insight into the ways people are motivated
unifying model has been proposed that integrates these factors and by stable goals that they wish to attain. Values, due to their abstract
identifies their relative importance. nature, predict behaviour across different social contexts and the
same value can predict very different behaviours. Thus for exam-
Stability and change of values ple, conservation values predict both religiosity and (in)tolerance
The importance of values leads researchers to investigate their sta- towards others. Moreover, values form an integrated meaning sys-
bility and change. Can people change their values? Laypeople as tem. Therefore studying a behaviour while taking into account the
well as researchers often assume that people can change their values full spectrum of human values allows for a deep understanding of
quite easily, especially compared with other personality attributes the multiple motivations that direct a single behaviour.
such as traits. They assume that people can simply change their We exemplified the research on the consequences of values
minds about their value priorities because values are subjective by focusing on identity and on behaviour directed to others.
and reflect what they themselves consider important. Contrary to Research on the consequences of values not only helps predict
this assumption, however, when adults were asked whether they behaviour, it contributes to understanding the motivation underly-
could change their values should they want to, they said it would ing behaviours and the complex interplay between personality and
be very difficult, even more difficult than changing their traits14. the social context.
Attempting to explain this finding, Roccas and colleagues14 rea- To date, much is known about the content of the values–
soned that changing one’s values entails altering the very core of behaviour relationships. More research is needed, however, to
one’s identity; individuals therefore perceive such change as diffi- investigate the processes through which values are translated into
cult and unlikely. behaviour. Some of the studies reviewed above pointed to such
Numerous studies reveal that values are relatively stable over paths of influence. Future research could enrich this line of work,
time94. Longitudinal studies revealed high test–re-test stability of which could be instrumental to organizational and social attempts
values in the short term (for example, one month, around 0.70–0.90). to motivate action.
Stability remains high after two, three and even eight years (0.50 In contrast to the numerous studies investigating the conse-
to 0.7020,95,96. Considering that contextual factors and even random quences of values, much less is known about the origin of values.
noise may affect individuals’ reports of their value priorities, the Discussing the phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives, we
extent of consistency in values across time is remarkable. reviewed recent theorizing and evidence on this important issue.
Values do sometimes change, however. Research indicates These developments in value research suggest that personal values
that major life transitions can produce substantial value change. are formed through a combination of genetic heritage and the impact
Migrating to a culture that emphasizes values different from those of exposure to multiple social environments, including family,
emphasized in one’s culture of origin is a notable example. A study school, community and society at large. An intriguing question for
of immigrants from Russia to Finland97 revealed changes in the per- future research is how values are grounded in the neuro-biological
sonal values of the immigrants. After about 19 months in Finland, system. Combined together, interdisciplinary research will enable

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© 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved.
NaTure Human BehavIour Review Article
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