Lilach Sagiv

Identifying Culture-Specifics in the Content and Structure of Values

Using data from 88 samples from 40 countries, the authors reevaluate the propositions of a recent values theory and provide criteria for identifying what is culture-specific in value meanings and structure. They confirm the widespread presence of 10 value types, arrayed on a motivational continuum, and organized on virtually universal, orthogonal dimensions: Openness to Change versus Conservation and Self-Transcendence versus Self-Enhancement. Forty-four values demonstrate high cross-cultural consistency of meaning. In the average sample, about 16% of single values diverge from their proto-typical value types, and one pair of motivationally close value types is intermixed. Test-retest and randomly split sample analyses reveal that some two thirds of deviations represent unreliable measurement and one third represent culture-specific characteristics. Ways to identify and interpret the latter are presented.

The Big Five Personality Factors and Personal Values

The authors relate Big Five personality traits to basic values in a sample of 246 students. As hypothesized, Agreeableness correlates most positively with benevolence and tradition values, Openness with self-direction and universalism values, Extroversion with achievement and stimulation values, and Conscientiousness with achievement and conformity values. Correlations of values with facets of the five factors reveal nuances of the facets and clarify ambiguities in the meanings of the factors. Values and personality traits exhibit different patterns of correlation with religiosity and positive affect. Findings support the idea that the influence of values on behavior depends more on cognitive control than does the influence of traits.

Value priorities and subjective well‐being: direct relations and congruity effects

Two studies investigated relations of value priorities to measures of subjective well-being. Samples of students and adults, from Israel and former East and West Germany (N=1261), participated in Part I. Hypothesized direct relations of nine types of values to well-being, based on ‘healthy’ values from the psychotherapy literature, relations of values to needs, self-determination theory, and the emotional resources needed to pursue various values were tested in each sample. Achievement, self-direction, stimulation, tradition, conformity and security values correlated with affective well-being, as predicted, but not with cognitive well-being. Part II tested the hypothesis that well-being depends upon congruence between personal values and the prevailing value environment. Results largely supported specific hypotheses regarding the values conducive to positive and negative well-being among students of business administration (n=40) and psychology (n=42). Hypotheses were derived from the social sanctions, environmental affordances for value attainment, and internal value conflicts likely to be experienced in each department. Copyright

Toward a Unifying Model of Identification With Groups: Integrating Theoretical Perspectives

Building on the contributions of diverse theoretical approaches, the authors present a multidimensional model of group identification. Integrating conceptions from the social identity perspective with those from research on individualism—collectivism, nationalism— patriotism, and identification with organizations, we propose four conceptually distinct modes of identification: importance (how much I view the group as part of who I am), commitment (how much I want to benefit the group), superiority (how much I view my group as superior to other groups), and deference (how much I honor, revere, and submit to the groups norms, symbols, and leaders). We present an instrument for assessing the four modes of identification and review initial empirical findings that validate the proposed model and show its utility in understanding antecedents and consequences of identification.

Personal value priorities of economists

Economists often play crucial roles in designing and implementing policies in the private and public sectors; thus it is important to better understand the values that underlie their decisions. We explore the value hierarchies that characterize economists in five studies. Findings indicate that students of economics attribute more importance to self-enhancement values and less importance to universalism values than students in other fields. This profile is already apparent at the beginning of the first year of study and persists throughout the degree. The values distinctive to economists are related to work-related perceptions and attitudes and hence may influence the policy decisions and recommendations of economists.

Vocational Interests and Basic Values

Two studies investigated the relations between vocational interests and basic values. In Study 1, hypotheses relating interests to values were derived and tested among 97 clients in career counseling. Conventional interests correlated positively with conformity, security, and tradition values and negatively with self-direction, stimulation, and universalism values. Enterprising interests correlated positively with power and achievement values and negatively with universalism values. Social interests correlated positively with benevolence values. Artistic and investigative interests correlated positively with self-direction and universalism values and negatively with conformity, security, and tradition values. Realistic interests, as expected, did not correlate with values. Study 2 replicated these findings among 545 counselees and showed that findings better matched the hypothesized pattern of relations among individuals who had reached a quality career decision during counseling. Implications for the implementation of both interests and values in career counseling are discussed.

The structure and dynamics of worry: theory, measurement, and cross-national replications.

This article presents a comprehensive conceptualization of the structure of worry and the relation of worry to mental health and well-being. It is assumed that worries have two facets, namely, the object of a worry (e.g., self, close others, society, the world) and the domain of a worry (the field of life with which it is concerned). The object of a worry is presumed to be more important than its domain in determining the impact of worries on mental health. Only worries concerned with self and close others (micro worries) are expected to be related to poor mental health, whereas worries about society or the entire world (macro worries) are expected to be positively related to mental health. An instrument is introduced to study worries in accordance with the proposed structure. Its validity is tested by two confirmatory techniques (similarity structure analysis and confirmatory factor analysis) in samples from Israel, West Germany, and (the former) East Germany. Worry scores are also related to five mental health indicators. Results show that across samples micro and macro worries can validly be distinguished. Micro worries are strongly related to poor mental health, whereas macro worries are unrelated to mental health or relate marginally to positive well-being.

The Value of Values in Cross-Cultural Research: A Special Issue in Honor of Shalom Schwartz

The centrality of values in cross-cultural research has more than doubled over the last three decades. This Special Issue investigates values across cultures and focuses on two main levels: individual and national. At the individual level, values express broad, trans-situational motivational goals, affecting individuals’ interpretation of situations, preferences, choices, and actions. At the national level, values reflect the solutions groups develop in response to existential challenges and relate to the way social institutions function. The authors review the role of values at each level and present eight articles included in the special issue, showing the value of values in cross-cultural research.

Perceiving Intergroup Conflict: From Game Models to Mental Templates

This article puts forward a parsimonious framework for studying subjective perceptions of real-life intergroup conflicts. Four studies were conducted to explore how individuals perceive the strategic properties of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Studies 1 and 2 found theory-driven associations between peoples subjective perception of the conflicts structure as a Chicken, Assurance, or Prisoners Dilemma game and their ingroup/outgroup perceptions, national identification, religiosity, political partisanship, voting behavior, and right-wing authoritarianism. Studies 3 and 4 manipulated the saliency of the needs for cognitive closure and security, respectively, demonstrating that these needs affect peoples endorsement of the game models as descriptions of the conflict.

Determinants of Readiness for Out-group Social Contact: Dominance Relations and Minority Group Motivations

Findings that members of minorities are more ready for social contact with members of dominant groups than vice versa have been attributed to a motivation of minorities to integrate into the larger society. We theorize that minorities hold opposing motivations-to integrate vs. to maintain unique group identity-the balance of which determines readiness for out-group contact. Study 1 examined readiness for out-group contact among three groups of Israeli teachers-Jews (dominant group), Muslim Arabs, and Christian Arabs (minorities). According to sociohistorical analyses, Muslim Arabs are more activated to maintain uniqueness and less motivated to integrate than are Christian Arabs. Study 2 examined recent Russian immigrants to Israel (minority) and veteran Israelis (dominant). Individual differences in motivation to integrate vs. maintain minority group identity were measured among immigrants. In both studies, the balance of motivations predicted minority group readiness for contact with the dominant group. ...