Basic life values and goals
The value survey I went through showed some interesting things.
First of all, it seems that my grouping would not coincide with the factorial analysis so far, as my evaluations for God/heaven related questions do not go in the same directions as the family/relationship questions. While the second group is very important to me, I could not but give 0s for the first group as I'm not convinced in the reality of the afterlife and salvation, not to mention the concepts behind them.
Second, I found myself to be lower than the lowest average point on all variables. May be, it's because I was very cautious in giving 4s and 5s?
If I look at the values I deemed most important, I would see a continuum between person-oriented values (marriage, for example) and humanity-oriented values (e.g., spreading philosophical knowledge). They all seem to be related, though:
First of all, it seems that my grouping would not coincide with the factorial analysis so far, as my evaluations for God/heaven related questions do not go in the same directions as the family/relationship questions. While the second group is very important to me, I could not but give 0s for the first group as I'm not convinced in the reality of the afterlife and salvation, not to mention the concepts behind them.
Second, I found myself to be lower than the lowest average point on all variables. May be, it's because I was very cautious in giving 4s and 5s?
If I look at the values I deemed most important, I would see a continuum between person-oriented values (marriage, for example) and humanity-oriented values (e.g., spreading philosophical knowledge). They all seem to be related, though:
1 - Enjoying a good marriage or lifetime partnership
28 - Working to educate children
32 - Providing a good life for your children
35 - Understanding the meaning of life
46 - Becoming a better person / self perfection.
47 - Becoming a better human being
48 - Spreading philosophical knowledge
2 - Transcending selfishness and attachment to become a more loving, self-sacrificing person.
28 - Working to educate children
32 - Providing a good life for your children
35 - Understanding the meaning of life
46 - Becoming a better person / self perfection.
47 - Becoming a better human being
48 - Spreading philosophical knowledge
2 - Transcending selfishness and attachment to become a more loving, self-sacrificing person.
Yes, we have a systematic bias here, because the norms are set by all the people who have taken it so far, and Americans are probably more indiscriminate in rating values as strongly endorsed. Either that, or there is a generally widespread tendency to agree to these value questions, and you are unusual in your lack of this tendency. I like the hypothesis that there is a cultural variable at work here that makes you less likely to endorse the values.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm given a five-point scale, I tend to assume a normal distribution, and I rate many things as 3s, a few things as 2s or 4s, and very rarely I assign a 1 or 5. Most other people tend to do a straight flat distribution with the top 20% getting 5s, and so forth, either evenly distributed across response categories or else skewed in the direction of agreeing with whatever they are being asked (for example, in customer satisfaction surveys, where everything is excellent).
To score these I actually use a formula to convert each response to a percentage of the highest possible score if a person endorsed everything. It seems to me your value scores are a bit higher than usual in your value on living a mental life, cultivation of self and community, and living a good life. You seem to be a bit lower in the faith & family dimension (where, as you point out, there is a cultural issue confounding your score, as in American society those who respond with higher values on family tend, in general, to also be more likely to value religious things). Your financial security values are also low, relative to your other values.