Jan Cieciuch

The Number of Distinct Basic Values and Their Structure Assessed by PVQ–40

According to the theory of basic human values (Schwartz, 1992), values form a circular motivational continuum. The original publication and most subsequent research partitioned this continuum into 10 values. In theory, however, it could be partitioned into a larger number of more narrowly defined values. We use multidimensional scaling (MDS) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of data from the Portrait Values Questionnaire in Poland (N = 10,439) to assess a finer partitioning of values. MDS confirmed the circular motivational continuum of 10 values, with benevolence and universalism reversing positions. CFA discriminated 15 hypothesized values: 2 subtypes of universalism (protecting the environment and societal concern), 2 of achievement (ambition and showing success), 2 of self-direction (autonomy of action and autonomy of thought), 2 of security (national security and personal security), and 2 of tradition (tradition and humility), plus stimulation, hedonism, power, conformity, and benevolence. These 15 values were also distinguishable in the MDS projection.

National and Gender Measurement Invariance of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS) : A 10-Nation Study With University Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS), a self-report measure aimed at assessing identity processes of commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. We tested its factor structure in university students from a large array of cultural contexts, including 10 nations located in Europe (i.e., Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland), Middle East (i.e., Turkey), and Asia (i.e., China, Japan, and Taiwan). Furthermore, we tested national and gender measurement invariance. Participants were 6,118 (63.2% females) university students aged from 18 to 25 years (Mage = 20.91 years). Results indicated that the three-factor structure of the U-MICS fitted well in the total sample, in each national group, and in gender groups. Furthermore, national and gender measurement invariance were established. Thus, the U-MICS can be fruitfully applied to study identity in university students from various Western and non-Western contexts.

Personal Values and Political Activism: A Cross-National Study

Using data from 28 countries in four continents, the present research addresses the question of how basic values may account for political activism. Study 1 (N = 35,116) analyses data from representative samples in 20 countries that responded to the 21-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21) in the European Social Survey. Study 2 (N = 7,773) analyses data from adult samples in six of the same countries (Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Poland, and United Kingdom) and eight other countries (Australia, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United States) that completed the full 40-item PVQ. Across both studies, political activism relates positively to self-transcendence and openness to change values, especially to universalism and autonomy of thought, a subtype of self-direction. Political activism relates negatively to conservation values, especially to conformity and personal security. National differences in the strength of the associations between individual values and political activism are linked to level of democratization.

Desired emotions across cultures: A value-based account

Values reflect how people want to experience the world; emotions reflect how people actually experience the world. Therefore, we propose that across cultures people desire emotions that are consistent with their values. Whereas prior research focused on the desirability of specific affective states or 1 or 2 target emotions, we offer a broader account of desired emotions. After reporting initial evidence for the potential causal effects of values on desired emotions in a preliminary study (N = 200), we tested the predictions of our proposed model in 8 samples (N = 2,328) from distinct world cultural regions. Across cultural samples, we found that people who endorsed values of self-transcendence (e.g., benevolence) wanted to feel more empathy and compassion, people who endorsed values of self-enhancement (e.g., power) wanted to feel more anger and pride, people who endorsed values of openness to change (e.g., self-direction) wanted to feel more interest and excitement, and people who endorsed values of conservation (e.g., tradition) wanted to feel more calmness and less fear. These patterns were independent of differences in emotional experience. We discuss the implications of our value-based account of desired emotions for understanding emotion regulation, culture, and other individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Cross-National Invariance Properties of a New Scale to Measure 19 Basic Human Values A Test Across Eight Countries

Several studies that measured basic human values across countries with the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21) reported violations of measurement invariance. Such violations may hinder meaningful cross-cultural research on human values because value scores may not be comparable. Schwartz et al. proposed a refined value theory and a new instrument (PVQ-5X) to measure 19 more narrowly defined values. We tested the measurement invariance of this instrument across eight countries. Configural and metric invariance were established for all values across almost all countries. Scalar invariance was supported across nearly all countries for 10 values. The analyses revealed that the cross-country invariance properties of the values measured with the PVQ-5X are substantially better than those measured with the PVQ-21.Several studies that measured basic human values across countries with the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21) reported violations of measurement invariance. Such violations may hinder meaningful cross-cultural research on human values because value scores may not be comparable. Schwartz et al. proposed a refined value theory and a new instrument (PVQ-5X) to measure 19 more narrowly defined values. We tested the measurement invariance of this instrument across eight countries. Configural and metric invariance were established for all values across almost all countries. Scalar invariance was supported across nearly all countries for 10 values. The analyses revealed that the cross-country invariance properties of the values measured with the PVQ-5X are substantially better than those measured with the PVQ-21.

Applying the Refined Values Theory to Past Data: What Can Researchers Gain?

The refined theory of basic human values (Schwartz et al., 2012) divides the circular continuum of values into 19 motivationally distinct values. Research with a new questionnaire discriminated these values in 10 countries and demonstrated the benefits of the finer distinctions. We ask, whether researchers can gain by applying the refined theory to the large repository of available data gathered with the 40-Item Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ40)? How many, if any, of the more refined values can be distinguished in PVQ40 data, and does this provide improved understanding of the topics studied? We addressed these questions with data from 13 countries on four continents (total N = 7,352). Theory-based multidimensional scaling and confirmatory factor analyses in each country revealed several more narrowly defined values in the PVQ data. Examples from 14 countries demonstrated that these refinements can increase predictive and explanatory power.

Comparing results of an exact vs. an approximate (Bayesian) measurement invariance test: a cross-country illustration with a scale to measure 19 human values

One of the most frequently used procedures for measurement invariance testing is the multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA). Muthén and Asparouhov recently proposed a new approach to test for approximate rather than exact measurement invariance using Bayesian MGCFA. Approximate measurement invariance permits small differences between parameters otherwise constrained to be equal in the classical exact approach. However, extant knowledge about how results of approximate measurement invariance tests compare to the results of the exact measurement invariance test is missing. We address this gap by comparing the results of exact and approximate cross-country measurement invariance tests of a revised scale to measure human values. Several studies that measured basic human values with the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) reported problems of measurement noninvariance (especially scalar noninvariance) across countries. Recently Schwartz et al. proposed a refined value theory and an instrument (PVQ-5X) to measure 19 more narrowly defined values. Cieciuch et al. tested its measurement invariance properties across eight countries and established exact scalar measurement invariance for 10 of the 19 values. The current study applied the approximate measurement invariance procedure on the same data and established approximate scalar measurement invariance even for all 19 values. Thus, the first conclusion is that the approximate approach provides more encouraging results for the usefulness of the scale for cross-cultural research, although this finding needs to be generalized and validated in future research using population data. The second conclusion is that the approximate measurement invariance is more likely than the exact approach to establish measurement invariance, although further simulation studies are needed to determine more precise recommendations about how large the permissible variance of the priors may be.

The comparability of the universalism value over time and across countries in the European Social Survey: exact vs. approximate measurement invariance

Over the last decades, large international datasets such as the European Social Survey (ESS), the European Value Study (EVS) and the World Value Survey (WVS) have been collected to compare value means over multiple time points and across many countries. Yet analyzing comparative survey data requires the fulfillment of specific assumptions, i.e., that these values are comparable over time and across countries. Given the large number of groups that can be compared in repeated cross-national datasets, establishing measurement invariance has been, however, considered unrealistic. Indeed, studies which did assess it often failed to establish higher levels of invariance such as scalar invariance. In this paper we first introduce the newly developed approximate approach based on Bayesian structural equation modeling (BSEM) to assess cross-group invariance over countries and time points and contrast the findings with the results from the traditional exact measurement invariance test. BSEM examines whether measurement parameters are approximately (rather than exactly) invariant. We apply BSEM to a subset of items measuring the universalism value from the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) in the ESS. The invariance of this value is tested simultaneously across 15 ESS countries over six ESS rounds with 173,071 respondents and 90 groups in total. Whereas, the use of the traditional approach only legitimates the comparison of latent means of 37 groups, the Bayesian procedure allows the latent mean comparison of 73 groups. Thus, our empirical application demonstrates for the first time the BSEM test procedure on a particularly large set of groups.

The circumplex of personality metatraits: A synthesizing model of personality based on the big five.

The Big Five model describes the structure of personality as 5 orthogonal and universal dimensions. Although the model has gained significant empirical support both in the psycholexical and questionnaire approaches, it is not free of criticism. The controversies concern the main assumptions regarding the structure of personality, among others the number of basic traits and their orthogonality. It turns out that 2 higher-order factors (also called metatraits) Alpha and Beta, or even 1 General Factor of Personality (GFP) are located above the 5 traits and account for systematical intercorrelations between these basic dimensions. The present article describes the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits (CPM), a proposal based on the knowledge gathered in the Big Five research tradition and solving some problems raised both in psycholexical and psychometric approaches. According to the model, metatraits can be described within a circumplex that is organized by 2 orthogonal dimensions: Alpha and Beta. Furthermore, we also introduce to the model 2 other metatraits: Gamma and Delta. On one hand these correspond to the personality types, and on the other they resolve the controversies related to the GFP. The main advantage of the CPM model is that it provides foundations for wide-ranging theoretical integration: (a) of the trait (disposition) approach to personality with those personality theories that make use of dynamic and explanatory theoretical constructs; (b) of various models of personality, temperament, emotion, motivation, and psychopathology; and (c) of the traditions of personality description in terms of traits and in terms of types.

On the Cross-Cultural Replicability of the Resilient, Undercontrolled, and Overcontrolled Personality Types

Personality types reflect typical configurations of personality attributes within individuals. Over the last 20 years, researchers have identified a set of three replicable personality types: resilient (R), undercontrolled (U), and overcontrolled (O) types. In this study, we examined the cross-cultural replicability of the RUO types in Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United States. Personality types were identified using cluster analyses of Big Five profiles in large samples of college students from Italy (n = 322), the United States (n = 499), Spain (n = 420), and Poland (n = 235). Prior to clustering the profiles, the measurement invariance of the Big Five measure across samples was tested. We found evidence for the RUO types in all four samples. The three-cluster solution showed a better fit over alternative solutions and had a relatively high degree of cross-cultural generalizability. The RUO types are evident in samples from four countries with distinct linguistic and cultural traditions. Results were discussed in light of the importance of considering how traits are organized within individuals for advancing contemporary personality psychology.