Sometimes I get stuck between two ways of acting that both seem right. Can I have conflicting values?

We don’t just have one value.  Most of us have a number of ways of acting that we believe in. And often we find ourselves in situations in which we need to decide between two courses of action that seem to take us in different directions.  Shalom Schwartz (1994), an Israeli values researcher has a way of understanding and organizing the different values that sheds light on this issue.  Using different kinds of statistical analysis and participants from around the world, Schwartz has found that  ten basic human values show a pattern of relationships that can be graphed around a circle in what he calls a “motivational continuum”.  Values that are next to each other are closely related; values that are across from each other are quite different.  They are further organized along two opposing dimensions.  On the self-transcendence vs. self enhancement dimension, values that emphasize the interests of others oppose values that emphasize self-interest.  On the openness to change vs. conservation dimension, values that emphasize independent action oppose values that emphasize security and conformity. 

 

The idea is that we tend to have values that are close to one another on the circle. So if you look at the graphic, you can see that actions that are stimulating and novel may contradict actions that that are compatible with traditional ways of doing things: people who like sky diving are not usually the same people who like tea parties. However actions that are compatible with traditions are probably appeal to those who like security: people who like tea parties may also be those who have good retirement savings plans.  Quite a large body of research supports this structure and it looks pretty much the same in countries around the world.  To go back then to the question of having conflicting values, this research seems to say no that won’t tend to happen. You will not tend to have strong values conflicts.  What does tend to happen is that we need to make choices in how we realize our values and a single value can take us in many different directions.  I’ll say more about this tomorrow when we talk about setting goals in support of values.

References 

Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? Journal of Social Issues, 50(4), 19-45. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1994.tb01196.x