In 1992, Israeli-American social psychologist Shalom Schwartz published a theory that changed how we think about human motivation. After analyzing value surveys from 20 countries and tens of thousands of participants, he proposed that the same 10 fundamental values appear, in varying importance, in every human culture. He called them Basic Human Values.
The theory has since been replicated across more than 80 countries, making it one of the most validated frameworks in cross-cultural psychology. It forms the basis of the European Social Survey values module, one of the largest recurring social research programs in the world.
What Makes Something a "Value"?
Schwartz defined values as desirable, trans-situational goals that serve as guiding principles in people's lives. Three properties distinguish values from attitudes or preferences:
- Trans-situational: Values apply across different life domains, work, family, leisure, politics. A preference for Thai food is not a value; a preference for pleasure (Hedonism) operates across all contexts.
- Motivational: Values drive behavior. They function as standards for evaluating actions, people, and events.
- Hierarchical: People hold values in relative importance to each other. Your personal value hierarchy explains why, when two values conflict, you consistently choose one over the other.
The 10 Basic Human Values
Schwartz identified 10 motivationally distinct value types:
- Self-Direction: Independent thought and action, choosing, creating, exploring. The goal is autonomy and freedom.
- Stimulation: Excitement, novelty, and challenge. The goal is variety and a stimulating life.
- Hedonism: Pleasure and sensuous gratification. The goal is enjoyment and self-indulgence.
- Achievement: Personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards. The goal is visible accomplishment.
- Power: Social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources. The goal is authority and wealth.
- Security: Safety, harmony, and stability of society, relationships, and self. The goal is order and certainty.
- Conformity: Restraint of actions and impulses likely to upset or harm others. The goal is proper behavior and social compliance.
- Tradition: Respect for and commitment to the customs and ideas of one's culture or religion. The goal is continuity with the past.
- Benevolence: Preserving and enhancing the welfare of people one is in close contact with. The goal is loyalty and care for those close to you.
- Universalism: Understanding, appreciation, and protection of all people and nature. The goal is justice and equal treatment at scale.
The Circumplex: Why Values Form a Circle
One of Schwartz's most important findings was that these 10 values are not independent. They are organized in a circular structure, a circumplex, based on motivational compatibility.
Adjacent values on the circle are compatible. Pursuing one makes it easier to simultaneously pursue the other. Self-Direction and Stimulation are adjacent: both involve openness to change, novelty, and independence. Benevolence and Universalism are adjacent: both involve concern for others' welfare.
Opposite values on the circle are in conflict. Choosing one makes it harder to simultaneously honor the other. Self-Direction opposes Conformity: acting on your own judgment conflicts with following social rules. Power opposes Universalism: seeking personal control conflicts with equal treatment for all.
The circumplex organizes the 10 values into four higher-order categories:
- Openness to Change (Self-Direction, Stimulation, Hedonism) vs Conservation (Security, Conformity, Tradition)
- Self-Enhancement (Achievement, Power) vs Self-Transcendence (Universalism, Benevolence)
How Values Differ From Personality Traits
Personality traits (like the Big Five) describe how you characteristically behave, your stable tendencies toward extraversion, conscientiousness, or neuroticism. Values describe what motivates that behavior, what outcomes you are pursuing.
Two people can both score high on Openness to Experience (trait) but have very different values profiles. One might be driven by Self-Direction (autonomy and creativity) while the other is driven by Universalism (understanding and protecting all people). Same trait; different motivation; different life choices.
Measuring Your Values: The PVQ-21
The Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21) was developed by Schwartz specifically to reduce the social desirability bias that affects direct value surveys. Rather than asking "how important is achievement to you?", which invites a socially acceptable answer, it describes a fictional person ("Being very successful is important to them. They like to impress other people.") and asks how similar you are to that person.
This indirect format produces more accurate results because you are evaluating someone else, not presenting yourself. The 21 items cover all 10 dimensions, typically taking under 5 minutes to complete.
Why This Matters for Career and Life Decisions
Understanding your value hierarchy is not an academic exercise. When your work environment consistently honors your dominant values, you experience engagement, meaning, and sustainable motivation. When it consistently blocks them, even if salary, title, and job security are excellent, you experience chronic friction and eventual burnout.
The most common career mistake is optimizing for the wrong variables: compensation and prestige rather than value alignment. Schwartz's research provides the framework for doing this correctly.