Systems Of Values And Their Multidimensional Representations

The purposes of the research were: (1) to elicit spontaneously mentioned values from a large and diverse sample of respondents, (2) to compare the spontaneously mentioned values with Rokeach's terminal and instrumental values, (3) to determine the ways in which both sets of values were perceived as varying on selected independently measured properties, and (4) to provide structural representations of both value systems. The spontaneously mentioned values were interpretable in terms of the focus of concern (Self versus Society) and beliefs about how these concerns were to be achieved. The spontaneously mentioned values also revealed a simpler structure than Rokeach's values. The results are discussed in terms of the errors inherent in constraining respondents to a fixed response format and the implications for cross cultural research on the underlying structure of value systems.