Alexis Harvey

Reading Summary 01/25/21

**Human Values should be intersectional with other concepts such as attitude, norms, and
need because human values are foundational/essential to these other concepts.
The Big Five Assumptions:
1. The total number of values that a person possesses is relatively small
2. All men everywhere possess the same values to different degrees (more or less)
3. Values are organized into value systems
4. The antecedents of human values can be traced to culture, society and its institutions,
and personality (YES!! Also studied in sociology)
5. Consequences of human values will be manifested in virtually all phenomena that social
scientists might consider worth investigating and understanding
**The value concept is applicably universal across all social sciences and human behavior.
**Criticisms of studying values (according to Robin Williams) we are stuck with the decision to
study the values people are SAID to have or the values an object is SAID to have. I would argue
it is more rewarding to study below the surface level, connect human’s values back to their
culture/society, and create criteria that is now applicable to ALL (i.e., big 5 OCEAN)
**Interesting to note that the study of values is kind of similar to the research we do in
psychology. We want a population that is large enough to sustain a good study, but the closer
the value is to the mean we’re closing the gap on ERROR and eliminating null hypothesis. We
want human values to be smaller because they’re easier to study and narrow the behavior
down to a specific value system, also eliminating error!
Value— an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is
personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end state.
1. A value is a cognition of the desirable (We embody values that we would want to
commonly see out of others) To say a person has a value is to say they know how to
behave and the correct end state they should strive for (Not always true, people can
make mistakes due to peer pressure or trying to fulfill other desires that overshadow
the value no matter how closely held that belief may be)
2. A value is affective in a sense because one can feel emotion about it (You may not get
along with others and project negative emotions onto them because their values do not
align with your own)
3. A value has a behavioral component (It leads to action and decision-making behavior
when the value is activated, we’ve seen this is shows, movies, and real-world examples
like a man chasing down a burglar for a woman’s stolen purse. He values/respects
women and basic human property)
Terminal values: Personal Values vs. Social Values – self-explanatory!
Instrumental values: Moral Values vs. Competence Values - MORAL VALUES DO NOT HAVE TO
INCLUDE AN END STATE OF EXISTENCE. WHEN VIOLATED THERE ARE FEELINGS OF
WRONGFULNESS AND GUILT. If one behaves logically and intelligently, they feel COMPETENT.
Value System—an enduring organization of beliefs concerning preferable modes of conduct or
end states of existence along a continuum of relative importance.
**If values were completely stable, individual and social change would be impossible. If values
were completely unstable, continuity of human personality and society would be impossible.
(BALANCE IS KEY!)