Motivation and emotion/Book/2025/Theory of basic human values

Theory of basic human values:
What is the theory of basic human values and how does it explain motivation?

Overview

A scenario You are currently a student, studying at university, and you are determined to get the highest mark available. You study several hours a day, stay up all night if need be, go over the marking rubric and constantly revise your assignments because you know that to get the best result you need to give it your everything. Then there is your friend, let's call him. Stan studies for his assignments, but invests a lot more of his time into hanging out with friends, going to parties, going on trips, and trying out new things every weekend. He values his work, but he's confident he will get a good mark, and isn't necessarily bothered by not getting the highest score available. He appreciates the moment, the here and now, living free, while you focus on building the future by enhancing yourself and opportunities to live ideally and securely. Why is Stan unbothered by not putting in his best effort in for potential of better opportunities later on, does he prefer the uncertain? But also, why aren't you interested in taking the edge off a little bit, stimulating yourself, do you prefer feeling like you need to know everything before you take something on, are you even just a little scared to leave your comfort zone?

Figure 1. Picture of Shalom H. Schwartz. Social psychologist and cultural researcher who founded the theory of basic human values, positing that there are universal values across all cultures inherent to all people.

The Theory of Basic Human Values is popular in psychological and philosophical research that was founded by Shalom H. Schwartz (see Figure 1.) which posits that there are 10 universal values that can be recognised in all cultures which guide and influence behaviours and actions. Values are considered almost fixed, however they can alter and be organised in accordance with subjective importance and relevance delegated to the value via the individual or group. The theory also outlines the values' relationship to one another, with some being adjacent in action and others oppositional. The theory of basic human values, particularly Shalom Schwartz's model, is important because it provides a framework for understanding and comparing values across cultures and individuals. This framework helps us understand how values influence attitudes, behaviours, and even organisational structures in cultural, social, individual, and group levels. By identifying ten basic values and their interrelationships, the theory offers insights into human motivation and decision-making. We have to deconstruct components of the theory to better grasp how it connects with the real world. Thus, in approaching the topic, we need dissect and analyse its applicants.

Focus questions What are the ideas which make up the theory? What is the influence the theory has had and in what areeas? What is its influence? What are its limitations?

Overview of motivation & emotion

Have you ever wondered the underlying reasons for why you are motivated to do a certain thing? Is there an innate drive which compels you into action, or are you just adapting to the social infrastructure as an instinct for human survival? Consider a time when there was something you were passionate about attaining which enraptured all your attention, how would you describe it in words, would you be able to explain why you felt that way?

To see how the Theory of Basic Human Values can be applied to explaining motivation and enhancing one's quality of life, a brief description of motivation and emotions and how they complement each other should be outlined to serve as a benchmark to reference to reach the objective.

Motivation

Motivation is an internal drive which compels you to attain a desired outcome which sparks and maintains a consistent action to be classified as a behaviour. It is often driven by the instinctual needs (hunger, sex, thirst), or something which leverages the power attained by one through social approval (Bandhu et al., 2024). It is a force which pushes people into finding solutions to problems, juggle social customs and be able to overcome barriers. It is divided into two separate categories, intrinsic emotion, whereby you do something for your own personal satisfaction, or extrinsic motivation, where you engage in activity for benefit from external sources as in reward or for safety (Morris et al., 2022).

Emotion

Emotion is a subjective response following affect determining how you feel and react to stimuli to satisfy internal moral framework. It can be defined in two categories, primary emotions, such as those universally experienced such as happiness, sadness, anger, shock, and disgust, and secondary emotions, which are complex emotions deduced from the primary emotions into different forms of expression such as jealousy or frustration (Rodriguez-Torres et al., 2003).

Relationship between motivation and emotion

Both motivation and emotion have roles in activation and degree of intensity of human behaviour. Each stem from the same word in Latin “movere” which translates “to move,” highlighting a relation into how they may be applied to people (Urnhanhe & Wijnia, 2023). Additionally, each can be used to complement each other and create a positive feedback loop as far as applied to a positive framework (Pappas et al., 2020).  

Universal values as defined by Schwartz

Schwartz theory of basic human values delves into an inherent “spirit” which is manifested in all individuals which aims to explain individual drives and how instincts combine with rationality to achieve an ideal future. The values form the groundwork for motivation and emotion by providing a target to strive for and outlines a framework by which values may be compatible or in conflict with each other.

The ten values

Schwartz proposed his theory of basic human values to outline and explain underlying forces which drive motivation across all individuals independent of culture (Schwartz, 2012) (see Table 1).

Table 1: Values as defined by Shalom. H Schwartz

Power	Power refers to attaining social status and prestige, and having a sense of dominance over others. According to Schwartz’s theory, power is required as a value to a certain extent in the right hands for institutions to thrive and a dominance/submissive interplay can be observed in most interpersonal relations in cultures and is best utilised in following moral codes. Power differs from achievement in that power strives for dominance and a position of control whereas achievement wants to demonstrate successful performance in social settings.
Achievement	Achievement refers to one’s ability to demonstrate their level of competence in accordance with social and personal standards set. It is understood in Schwartz’s theory that achievement demonstrates the ability to provide for oneself and the tribe in showcasing skills and talents, this is often found in people who seek social recognition and approval.
Hedonism	Hedonism refers to pleasure-seeking and the need to indulge in activities which satisfy sensory gratification. This can be understood as satisfying the basic instincts (sex, food, thirst, etc.), however this can lead to overindulging if not properly managed.
Stimulation	Stimulation refers to the need for excitement and action found in one’s life. This value can be seen in thrill-seeking, searching for novelty and new experiences, and an attitude that can be daring and engaging with the world. Too much of this can lead to impulsivity and reckless behaviours.
Self-Direction	Self-Direction refers to one’s ability to think freely and follow goals aligning with one’s own independence. This prioritises personal autonomy, freedom, and ability to maximise self-development.
Universalism	Universalism refers to where one looks beyond those of whom they have identified as their own and the in-group to which they are assigned and belong to those outside the primary boundaries of their group. Universalism is where one recognises that failure to accept those outside of their group leads to not feeling in sync with and living in alignment with the full set of abstract values, and that unless one can learn to cooperate with others one can never find true harmony with all values. This holds themes of spirituality, and oneness with existence.
Benevolence	Benevolence aims to develop and strengthen the bonds of whom one considers their in-groups. Most prevalent in this category are one’s immediate family, as well as groups one personally identifies with. Here one enhances the welfare and harmony of those one holds closest. Benevolence is like conformity; however, benevolence contains an internalised drive to pursue its ends whereas conformity refers to pressures one has to adhere to the social order.
Tradition	Tradition refers to following and showing respect towards the habits and customs the past have held in maintaining order and unity. This is often found in following the rules of a religion, or fate, to which the group have accepted as its symbols and archetypes for idealisation and valued norms. Whilst tradition is similar to conformity, the two differ in that conformity presents itself in showing respect to practical things such as authority and understood positions of social status, traditional motivational values unravel in how people pay homage to abstract ideas, symbols, concepts, etc.
Conformity	Conformity is one’s ability to conform to the social rules and order put in place so as not to disrupt the harmony of the tribe. This is seen in self-restraint in everyday actions of withholding from actions that may disturb the harmony of the situation, whilst also willing to comply with the expectations put forth to ensure continuation of accepted practices.
Security	Security serves as a value in maintaining safety and harmony for the self and of groups by following moral laws set in place to ensure one’s protection. This can be seen at the individual level, or more broadly spanning to group levels, though even among groups, there seems to be individual bias for whom security is blessed upon. People typically prioritise their own safety and that of those with whom they have close relationships with before others.

Value circumplex

Schwartz values are arranged in a circular framework which demonstrates values of which are adjacent to one another and complement each other into realisation, and values which stand on opposition and compete against each other. The structure of Schwartz values are organised into two domains self-transcendence, which involves benevolence and universalism, and openness to change which includes stimulation and self-direction operating on one side of the continuum, and self-enhancement, which involves power and achievement, and Conservation, which involves tradition and conformity operating on the other (Schwartz, 2022).

Figure 2. Circular structure which displays the values in harmonisation and conflict with each other.

Four higher-order values

Openness to change

Openness to change refers to values like self-direction and stimulation. This involves one’s innate desire to live freely and for unique self-expression in one’s own framework for life’s meaning.

Self-transcendence

Self-Transcendence involves benevolence and universalism, which aims to apply meaning to beyond the self and onto others and finding unification in cultural ethics.

Self-enhancement

Self-Enhancement prioritises achievement and power. This involves developing on the self and one’s ability to exert control and achieve success in one’s personal desires, even at the expense of others.

Conservation

Conservation refers to values such as tradition and conformity. This higher order value finds its root in maintaining stability and safety for the self and of others in dimensions such as those which satisfy innate need to be protected, and with the outer need which identifies the group and customs which shape it as an extension of the self. (Lechner, et al., 2024).

Values and motivations

Values and guiding principles

Values serve as goals manifested in an individual serving as a universal compass, which motivates one to thought and behaviour to satisfy the drive propelling one into action. Universal validation of the values further enhances one’s personal satisfaction (Paliliunas, 2021). Values are conceptualised in a system which transcends situational contexts to be realised when a goal is in unification with the emotions one strives to harmonise with (Liu et al., 2023).

Motivational dynamics

Values can work in unison when a common ideal is shared amongst the desire and little to no compromise is made, or with room to yield greater results, however some values may be in conflict with each other where sacrifice or compromise equally affords tension and dissatisfaction with driving ideals (Besika, 2022). For instance, values in the four higher order values such as Self-Transcendence and Openness to Change harmonise well together because there is little room for sacrifice and can produce more idealistic results, however these higher-order values stand in conflict with Self-Enhancement and Conservation (Czupryna et al., 2024), as the philosophies for these values can visualise ideals which contradict with the former mentioned or are difficult to navigate around. (Gimenez et al., 2019).

Personal and cultural differences

Expression of values remain unique and subjective to each culture and expression of them. However, the structure of the values appears to remain consistent across cultures, which unravels a universal application of the values and prompts insight into identifying what shapes an individual and cultural relationship to values and how we can afford beneficial sacrifice for harmonisation with innate drives (Miles & Yeh, 2024). Values relation to emotion and how it influences motivation

Emotional experience

Values are innate inherently linked to what goes into producing feeling. Feeling is the expression of emotion following affect, that which is derived from real or perceived action or change (Simic et al., 2021). With values serving as the root from which human experience produces meaning, when a value is satisfied a person is left with a feeling of fulfilment and deep satisfaction (Baumann & Ruch, 2022). Conversely, when a value is obstructed or cannot be reached, the opposite effect is set in motion, where an individual is dissatisfied, distressed, unfulfilled, and incomplete with unification (Chrystal et al., 2019). At an extreme end, this cuts a black and white perspective between idealism and love for existence, or full-blown nihilism (Conte et al., 2022).

Emotional regulation

With the framework we are able to identify what matters and use self-awareness as a foundation to identify and manage emotion triggers and cooperate towards ethical symbiosis. In being able to identify values and what they actually mean, one can set in motion thought and behaviour which unifies one with the guiding principles of behaviour inextricably linked to satisfaction with being (Netzer & Atad, 2024). With this we better grasp reaps satisfaction and know how to avoid and de-escalate situations which would compromise our ideals (Liu et al., 2023).

Value-action alignment

Ways in which strategies can be employed to ensure one’s daily actions are congruent with core values, are to identify which values identify with you in accordance to Schwartz theory and evaluate ways in which you can navigate them coming into fruition (Schwartz, 2012). To elaborate, determine which values have relative importance for you in your day –to-day life and what can bring you to impacting your life in ways which will align with the desired future you visualise for yourself and how to bring it into existence via setting goals for yourself throughout the day in attaining these and in communication and feedback from others to establish staying power. (Russo et al., 2022).

Setting value based goals and navigating value conflicts

Identify what core values are through reflection and introspection in what matters in your life and use the framework to better grasp your own internal state and drives in your life (Belic et al., 2021). To navigate value conflicts, identify values according to their circular structure on Schwartz model, then understand and get to the root issue of how these values work in opposition to each other (Lechner et al., 2024). Following this focusing on the emotional cause and effect each value demonstrates, to help evaluate what is necessary in drive and unravelling of desired goals and outcomes. This helps determine a common ground and promotes alignment to integrity and paths to resolution in pursuit of desired future goals. (Bombaerts et al., 2023).

Conclusion

Understanding Schwartz theory of Basic Human Values provides a promising general outlook from which to see what drives human behaviour. We see that the theory shows a promising compass from which an intuitive leap can identify with in relating the values and their definitions back to the self. With this proposition in mind, it becomes important to unpack the science behind the values, looking at the cultural and subjective interpretations and input in the case of cause and effect in emotional dynamics, and better deconstructing and getting to the root cause of which an emotion stems from.

Schwartz's approach deconstructs the complexity of human values and applies to a model where an objective interpretation of which supposed values an individual has at heart and can be extracted to analyse what may be influencing those and how the individual can better grasp their own intuitions and yearnings in life.

If we can gauge the emotional dynamics that consummate a defined value we can better understand ourselves and culture in relation to the world and build a solid foundation in ontological rootedness we reflect upon the world from, such a perspective helps solidify a healthy attachment to morality and values which all can universally benefit from and identify meaning in, even from a subjective perspective.

See also

Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Moral motivation - Wikiversity. (2024). https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Motivation_and_emotion/Book/2024/Moral_motivation Wikipedia contributors. (2025, July 18). Theory of basic human values. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_basic_human_values

References

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Russo, C., Danioni, F., Zagrean, I., & Barni, D. (2022). Changing Personal Values through Value-Manipulation Tasks: A Systematic Literature Review Based on Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Human Values. European Journal of Investigation in Health Psychology and Education, 12(7), 692–715. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe12070052

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External links

• Understanding values: Schwartz theory of basic values – Integration and Implementation Insights