Values Pt. 1 - Assessment

Psychology of Personal Decision-Making

Agenda

Exercise: Defining Values Exercise: Personal Value Mining Exercise: Rank Ordering Values assessment▪ Terminal vs. Instrumental▪ Reiss Motivation Profile

Value Checklists Other ways to get at values

Defining Values: Exercise

What is a value?▪ List as many personal values as you can…

more coming▪ What is important to your family?▪ What is important to you?▪ Could anyone make you change these values?▪ Pretend you have children, you think they’ll have the

same/similar values as you?

Defining Values: Exercise

Values for aliens to live well on our planet

Personal Value Mining: Exercise

Who in history do you admire who is now dead?▪ Why?

Who in your life do you know and admire?▪ Why?

Think of very positive events in your life▪ Why were these so great?

Think of very negative events in your life▪ Why were these so bad?

Think of tv shows/movies where you would love to be in the actor/actress’ shoes▪ Why?

Defining Values

Rokeach (1973)(1) A value is an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite…mode of conduct.

Terminal Values: Desired goals (Ends)

Instrumental Values: How to reach the goals (Means)

Terminal & Instrumental Values

Terminal Values1. A comfortable life2. An exciting life3. A sense of accomplishment

4. A world at peace

5. A world of beauty

6. Equality7. Family security8. Freedom

9. Happiness10. Inner harmony11. Mature love12. National security13. Pleasure14. Salvation15. Self-respect16. Social recognition17. True friendship18. Wisdom

Instrumental Values1. Ambitious2. Broadminded3. Capable4. Cheerful

5. Clean6. Courageous

7. Forgiving8. Helpful9. Honest10. Imaginative11. Independent12. Intellectual13. Logical14. Loving15. Obedient16. Polite17. Responsible18. Self-controlled

Reiss Motivation Profile

Reiss’ Motivational Theory

Multiple basic desires that are motivational traits.

Basic desires found in multiple species.

Basic desires reflect genetically distinct motives.

Satiation of basic desires produces joy.Reiss, S. (2004). Multifaceted nature of intrinsic motivation: The Theory of the 16 Basic Desires. Review of General Psychology, 8 179-193.

Reiss Motivation Profile

Reiss’ Motivational Theory

Each desire is a continuum.▪ People generally seek moderate levels of each desire

Each person has a different set of priorities among the desires.

Motivation = discrepancy between desire and recent experience.

Desires organize behavior, attention, feelings, etc.▪ What we attend to▪ What we ignore

Reiss Motivation Profile

Reiss & Havercamp (1994; 1998)

Developed 300 statements reflecting basic desires “I would rather lose my life than my honor” “I enjoy learning new skills”

Tested 2,500 people & Found 15 factors

Added 16th factor (savings) and confirmed with 500 more people

Basic Psychometrics

Very good reliability evidence Good validity evidence Some cross-cultural generalizability evidence

Reiss Rank Ordering: Exercise

Lots of questions! Reiss! ▪ Emotional reactions to this?▪ Previous?

Reiss Motivation Profile (Exercise) Honor (desire to obey a traditional moral code) Order (desire to organize & add structure) Eating (desire to eat) Physical activity (desire to exercise muscles) Independence (desire for autonomy, self-sufficiency) Power (desire to influence others) Idealism (desire for social justice) Social contact (desire for friendship, belonging) Acceptance (desire for approval) Status (desire to be/feel important) Curiosity (desire for knowledge, new experiences) Tranquility (desire for peace/restfulness) Vengeance (desire to get even, compete, win) Family (desire to raise own children) Sex (desire for sex, romance, & beauty) Saving (desire to collect, be frugal)

Reiss, S. (2004). Multifaceted nature of intrinsic motivation: The Theory of the 16 Basic Desires. Review of General Psychology, 8 179-193.

Reiss Motivation Profile

Behavior predicted by patterns (profiles) of needs

Youth Violence ▪ Vengeance (+), Status (+), Loyalty (-), Aversion (-)

Religion ▪ Independence (-), Social contact (+), Family (+), Honor (+)

College Athletes ▪ Physical exercise (+), Social contact (+), Family (+), Vengeance (+),

Power (+), Curiosity (-)

Why start w/ Values?

More general “cores” than alternatives

Can open you up to more possibilities

Value Checklists

List of values (modified from Maslow) Decision values checklist

List of Values

Good for force fit Cognitive/Aesthetics – Experiencing

beauty, meaning in life Social – Being loved and respected Safety – Feeling secure Physiological – Free from hunger, thirst,

pain

Decision Values Checklist

Stakeholders Positive and Negative consequences Present and Future consequences Tangible and Intangible

consequences Community

Decision Values Checklist

Stakeholders▪ Envision values from their perspective on your

decision

Decision Values Checklist

Positive and Negative consequences Tend to overlook the negatives, so a good

reality check

Decision Values Checklist

Present and Future consequences Tend to overlook the long term, so a nice

wakeup

Decision Values Checklist

Tangible and Intangible consequences▪ How we or others feel about us afterwards?▪ Mercedes purchase?

Decision Values Checklist

Community Values Group membership Part of an intelligently run community Shared sense of identity

Barry’s Best Quote…so far

“When we become what we value, we

value ourselves and become

happier.”

People who embody their values…

Are more pleasant to be around Feel more in control Feel more like they are making

contributions

Using alternatives to uncover values

Rank ordering: What alternative you like least/best? What about

it?▪ The “What about it” piece is a value

Pros and Cons of alternatives: For each: What is best feature? Worst?▪ The “features” are values

Best and Worst cases for outcomes: What do you like? What do you not like?▪ The differences are values

Subgoals

Bring goal distance into focus by breaking goals into smaller attainable pieces EXAMPLES: income, knowledge, skills,

social connections

Means or end? Ask yourself: “Why do I want this?”▪ If you want it for where it gets you means▪ If you want it for the sake of it itself end

Criteria for well structured values

Completeness Relevancy Non-redundancy Testability/Measurability Meaningfulness Value Independence

Completeness

Ensuring you’re considering all important values

Commonly overlook: Consequences to others Negative consequences Long term consequences The ways we and others think about

ourselves

Testing for completeness

Coin flip mental test: After listing out values and possible

alternatives▪ Would you let a “weighted” coin flip

determine your decision?▪ If no, find other values to ADD▪ If yes, you’re good to proceed

Relevance

Rule of thumb: 5-7 values required for completeness

If you’ve already got that many, use the relevance test to SUBTRACT values: See if you can find a substantial

difference between a group of your values and one other value

Use +/-/~ rankings to determine

Testability/Measurability

Are your values objective enough? For testability:▪ Safeguards against irrationality▪ Clarifies what you mean, “does income mean

profit or revenue?”▪ Easier to get information from somewhere else

For Measurability ask yourself: “Can I assign units of measure to all of my values?”▪ E.g. – people, dollars, family time %▪ Quantify! Even the tricky stuff. <EXERCISE HERE>

Meaningfulness

Do the numbers you came up with hold weight for you?

Could you be measuring things in a more meaningful way? $/hour vs. $/month (COMPENSATION) % time on the ice vs. number of

attempted shots (GAME INVOLVEMENT) # of expressions of emotional

support/month vs. # acts of kindness per week (MATURE LOVE)

Non-Redundancy

Make sure you aren’t representing a value more than once in your decision table

“Quality of Life” / “Social Connections” / “Partying”

“Tangible results” vs. “Contribution to society”

Construct a value tree Stimulates creative thought Completeness Clarifies relationships among values Non-

redundancy

Value Independence

When values are independent, we don’t have to think about them at the same time.

When they aren’t, we do =(

Value Independence

Quality and duration of a state▪ Quality of life AND Length of life▪ Use quality of life as a value, then use duration to assess

importance

Quality and probability of a state▪ Job desirability AND Probability of getting the job▪ Use desirability as value and use probability for importance

Fairness in social situations▪ Create a fairness value to think about:▪ Consequences to yourself▪ Consequences to others▪ Differences between self and other consequences

Quantitative thinking about values

Gotta get in the right frame of mind Think of comparable cases

Attributes Measures Zero Points

Attributes

Weigh costs and benefits over time Duration of impact is really

important

Measures

Use scales with real units

Zero Points

All about reference points Sorrow and difficulty lower the bar

Simple things enable us to better appreciate life E.g. – losing a limb

Good fortune/comfort raises the reference point Comforts which used to give us pleasure are

needed to remain neutral or avoid pain Cost to pleasure and benefit in pain

Moving up is NOT as important as moving down