Human Values Systems, Part 1 - 4

In the recent past values were considered one of the key ingredients to a successful attempt at persuasion. If you knew and understood what someone’s values were, you could simply package your communication around them and presto… you had their button pushed.

It would be great if that were so, but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it) the human brain is not so simple. The reality of the matter is that it takes quite a bit more to successfully persuade someone. That being said, values are an important, powerful and integral part to being able to understand and communicate effectively with someone. As a matter of course, a professional communicator necessarily needs to thoroughly understand human values to be effective.

So what are values exactly? If you do some searching on the web you will find a plethora of definitions… mix those in with your own notions of what values are specifically and you have smorgasbord of terms. So in order to effectively move forward let’s first define “values”.

·         Values are a type of belief that are tied inextricably to emotions. Whereas standard beliefs are objective and hard informational concepts that dictate action and operation. Values are an emotional belief that dictates direction or course of action.

·         Values are not dictated by a specific action or scenario. They operate at a much higher level of abstraction and transcend boundaries. This separates them from norms and attitudes which are action, object or situational specific.

·         Values are hierarchical in their importance relationally with each other and serve as standards or criteria for directional selection.

So to sum all of this up, values are emotion based beliefs that act as standards to govern and dictate the DIRECTIONAL “mode of operation” in a person’s life.

Relationally, within a person’s psychological make- up, values provide the person with life-direction FROM their core drives (the 16 evolutionary drives) and are surrounded by operational beliefs to dictate specific actions to be taken for the purpose of moving the individual further in the direction that the values are pushing toward.

Allow me to give you an example. Let’s say we are evaluating the evolutionary drive of “power/achievement”. A value that springs from that may be knowledge as acquiring knowledge will facilitate the accomplishment or exacting of power/achievement. Beliefs that surround the value of “knowledge” and act as operational guides may be studying, reading, practicing, researching, etc…

Based on research conducted by Shalom Schwartz that spans 67 nations and 35,000 respondents there are 10 foundational value systems that are characterized by their central motivational goal. All values will fall into one of the ten systems. The systems are:

1. Self-Direction – This includes values such as Independent thought and action, ability to choose, ability to create, ability to explore, etc...

2. Stimulation – This includes excitement, novelty, challenge, etc...

3. Hedonism – This is pleasure and sensuous gratification and includes physical appearance, wealth, eating, etc…

4. Achievement – This is personal success through demonstrating competence according to

social standards. This includes practice, skill, ability, etc…

5. Power – This is control or dominance over people and resources. This includes strength, knowledge, prestige, etc…

6. Security – This includes safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of self.

7. Conformity – This is the restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm

others and violate social expectations or norms. This includes mental focus, sacrifice, drive, etc…

8. Tradition – This is respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that

traditional culture or religion provide the self. This includes tradition, respect, humility, etc…

9. Benevolence – This is preserving and enhancing the welfare of those with whom one is in

frequent personal contact. This includes compassion, generosity, helpfulness, etc…

10. Universalism – This is the understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare

of all people and for nature.  This includes conservationism, education, kindness, etc…

Tomorrow we will talk about the Values Theory and how each of these values systems interacts with each other to develop a predictable personality in someone.

As always, to learn more about values and how they can help provide effective communication, please visit my site The Communication Expert.

The Communication Expert | David J. Parnell
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