According to Schwartz, values have six main features:

• Values are beliefs which, when activated, become infused with feeling. We have an inherent emotional reaction when our values are challenged, threatened, or reinforced.

• Values refer to desirable goals which motivate action - if social justice is a core value, you will work towards its existence.

• Values transcend specific actions and situations - if honesty is a core value, it is relevant at home and at work, with family and with strangers.

• Values serve as standards or criteria - we determine what we believe to be good or bad, justified or not, worth doing or avoiding based on how it fits with and will effect our core values.

• Values are ordered by importance - we may value tradition and equality, but when forced to prioritize, we value one over the other.

• It is the relative importance we assign to our Values that guides our actions.

 

What distinguishes one value from another is the type of goal or motivation is expresses. For Schwartz, the ten broad values he has identified are defined their underlying motivations. Below is a brief overview of these, and I encourage you to dive deeper!

• Self-Direction - expresses the need for independent thought and action, the ability to choose, create & explore

• Stimulation - expresses the need for excitement, novelty & challenge

• Hedonism - expresses the need for pleasure or sensuous gratification

• Achievement - expresses the need for personal success through demonstrating socially-approved competence

• Power - expresses the need for control, dominance, social status & prestige

• Security - expresses the need for safety, harmony & stability of society, relationships & self

• Conformity - expresses the need for restraining actions likely to harm others or violate social norms

• Tradition - expresses the need for commitment and acceptance of the customs & ideas of one's culture or religion

• Benevolence - expresses the need for preserving & enhancing the welfare of one's in-group

• Universalism - expresses the need for understanding, appreciating & protecting the welfare of all people & nature

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     One of my favorite aspects of this theory is how Schwartz arranges the value in essentially a circular continuum (imagine a pie cut into 10 slices with each value above in one [conformity & tradition split one] in the order above). He does this because of the related motivational emphases of adjacent values. For example, power & achievement both express a need for social superiority and esteem, while achievement & hedonism express a need for self-centered satisfaction. Benevolence & tradition express a devotion to one's in-group, while benevolence & conformity expresses a need for normative behavior that promotes close relationships. The closer two values are on the circle, the more similar their underlying motivations, the more distant, the more antagonistic.

     Consider for a moment, what the emotional, physical, and mental impact would be if your organization's top two values were power and achievement, while yours are self-direction and universalism. Or the strain you might experience in a romantic relationship if you place high value on security, while your partner places high value on stimulation. Identifying and understanding your core values is key to creating your best and most aligned life.

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My Experience

I completed the Schwartz assessment during my Gonzaga Master's program, and it identified Universalism as my primary value, followed by Self-Direction, Benevolence & Security. In analyzing my own results, I was struck by the fact that while my top three values were all close neighbors on the continuum, my forth was nearly directly opposite in terms of motivation. What I came to realize was that due to a childhood and early adulthood in which financial and emotional security were lacking, I had developed an inner narrative that stability and harmony were the necessary for happiness. Because this motivation was essentially antagonistic to my primary three values, I made some choices that increased my levels of stress and frustration - and did some internal and external damage along the way. By placing a stronger focus on my need to create and explore as well as protect and preserve the well-being of both those I love and the universe as a whole, I am working to live a more aligned and congruent life.

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