What Are Core Values, Scientifically Speaking?
"Values" is a word we use casually — but what does it actually mean, psychologically? Israeli social psychologist Shalom Schwartz spent decades answering this question rigorously. His result: the Schwartz Theory of Basic Human Values — the most validated cross-cultural model of values ever developed, replicated in over 80 countries.
Schwartz defines values as motivational goals that guide behavior and serve as standards for evaluating actions, people, and events. They're not just preferences — they're the criteria by which you decide what matters.
The 10 Basic Human Values
Schwartz identified 10 universal values that appear across cultures (with culturally specific expressions):
Self-Direction
Defining goal: Independent thought and action — choosing, creating, exploringPeople who score high here value autonomy, creativity, and self-determination. They bristle under excessive control and need to feel that their choices are their own.
Stimulation
Defining goal: Excitement, novelty, and challenge in lifeHigh scorers need variety and new experiences. They seek thrills, change, and the feeling of being alive. Low scorers prefer routine and comfort.
Hedonism
Defining goal: Pleasure and sensuous gratification for oneselfThis value is about enjoying life's pleasures — food, beauty, sensory experience, comfort. Neither virtue nor vice — it's a motivator that varies significantly across people.
Achievement
Defining goal: Personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standardsHigh scorers are driven by accomplishment, recognition, and demonstrating capability. They measure themselves against standards and care about success.
Power
Defining goal: Social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resourcesThis isn't inherently negative — it includes leadership, influence, and building things. High scorers want to have impact and be recognized for it.
Security
Defining goal: Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of selfSecurity-oriented people need to know that their world is stable and predictable. They're reliable, loyal, and often risk-averse. They make excellent stewards of institutions.
Conformity
Defining goal: Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectationsHigh conformity scorers respect rules, defer to norms, and avoid standing out negatively. They value social harmony and get along well in structured systems.
Tradition
Defining goal: Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion providesTradition scorers honor heritage, continuity, and the wisdom accumulated in cultural practices. They may be religious or simply deeply connected to roots.
Benevolence
Defining goal: Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent personal contactThis is about caring for the specific people in your life — family, friends, community. High scorers are warm, caring, and dependable in their close relationships.
Universalism
Defining goal: Understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for natureUniversalism extends benevolence to humanity at large — and to the environment. High scorers are concerned with justice, equality, and ecological sustainability.
The Values Circumplex
Schwartz discovered that the 10 values are arranged in a circumplex — a circular structure where adjacent values are compatible and opposite values are in tension:
Openness to Change (Self-direction, Stimulation, Hedonism) ↔ Conservation (Security, Conformity, Tradition) Self-Enhancement (Achievement, Power) ↔ Self-Transcendence (Benevolence, Universalism)This means you can't maximize everything simultaneously. If you highly value both Achievement and Benevolence, you'll face recurring conflicts — your drive for success will sometimes collide with your care for others. Understanding these tensions is key to understanding chronic inner conflict.
Values vs. Personality
Values are not the same as personality traits. Two people with identical Big Five profiles can have very different value priorities — one driven by Achievement, another by Universalism. Values explain why people with similar personalities make different choices.
Values also change more than personality does. Major life events — illness, parenthood, spiritual experiences — can shift values significantly. Personality traits change slowly over decades; values can update faster.
How Values Conflicts Show Up
Most chronic inner conflict — the feeling of being torn, or always failing at something you care about — traces back to values conflicts:
- A high-Achievement, high-Universalism person who is simultaneously driven to succeed and guilty about competitive behavior
- A high-Security, high-Self-Direction person who needs stability but also feels trapped by it
- A high-Power, high-Benevolence person who wants both influence and genuine care for others — and is sometimes not sure which motivation is actually driving them
At Innermind, your Schwartz values profile is integrated with your personality assessment to surface these dynamics explicitly.