Relationships between personal human values and social value orientation

by John B. Nezlek

The present study examined relationships between social value orientation and personal values. Participants, n = 1655, were university students (M_age = 18.9 years, 60% women) who completed the Triple Dominance Measure, a measure of social value orientation, and the PVQ-21, a measure of Schwartz’s personal values. Two items were added to the PVQ-21 to measure benevolence toward people in general. The analyses found that pro-socials had significantly higher scores than pro-selfs (Competitors and Individualists) for Benevolence, Universalism, and Conformity values, whereas pro-selfs had significantly higher scores than pro-socials on Hedonic, Achievement, and Power values. These differences reflected the fact that Benevolence, Universalism, and Conformity values concern the feelings and well-being of others, concerns that are consistent with a pro-social orientation. In contrast, Hedonic, Achievement, and Power values concern self-enhancement, concerns that are consistent with a self-focused orientation. There were no significant differences between individualists and competitors for any value, nor were there differences of any kind for Tradition, Security, Self-direction, and Stimulation values. These results complement and expand previous research by demonstrating how individual differences in social value orientation are related to individual differences in fundamental, personal human values.