The function and structural hierarchy of human values and value systems: Achievement vs. affiliation, individualism vs. collectivism and the yin and yang

Development and elaboration of a universal theory and empirically derived operational definition of human values was the primary purpose of these studies. A philosophical and theoretical base is first established proposing that universal human values reside within a shared component of consciousness similar to Jung\u27s (1936, 1971) conception of archetypes in the collective unconscious. Delineation of the defining characteristics of values is followed by information regarding the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS; Rokeach, 1973) and its wide use across a variety of populations. It is suggested that identification of the underlying structure of value surveys will reflect the corresponding underlying cognitive structure of American college students. Evidence strongly suggests that individualism and collectivism are the underlying value dimensions of the RVS (Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987; Johnston, 1995). To further elucidate the underlying dimensions and suspect representativeness of value surveys, as well as replicate earlier findings, a sorting task in conjunction with multidimensional scaling was employed using the RVS (Rokeach, 1973). To provide further converging evidence regarding the validity of these findings, the List of Values (LOV; Kahle, 1983) and the Multi-Item Adaptation to the List of Values (MILOV; Herche, 1994) were also employed. Attribute rating scales provided further information regrading the constructs of individualism and collectivism, while additional values provided evidence that an underlying spiritual component is not measured by any of these value surveys. Gender and Maslowian developmental differences were explored in participant\u27s use of multidimensional space, and results indicate that no differences were observed based on gender, but differences were observed based on Maslowian developmental differences. Gender and developmental differences were also explored in the importance individuals\u27 assigned to particular values and once again differences were observed based on Maslowian developmental differences but no differences were observed based on gender. Taken together the present studies indicates that individual-achievement oriented domains, collective-affiliative domains and a humanistic growth oriented or spiritual domain comprise the underlying structure of value surveys. The absence of gender differences in the ratings of values and the use of multidimensional space, in an American college population, indicates that these differences have significantly declined in the last thirty years. However, the observation of Maslowian developmental differences in the use of multidimensional space indicates the necessity of accounting for psychological developmental differences in most psychological research