Human Value Structure and Emotions

Abstract: DOCTORAL DISSERTATION IN rSYCHOLOGY, 20 11 Abstract Montgomery, W. Hlunan vnluc slruclurc and emotions. Dcpartmcl1I of Psychulogy, University ofGothenhurg, Göteborg, Swedcn. In this dissertation Shalom Sehwartz' thcury oflhe Slmcture ofbasic hum.m values is tlcvcJopcd. A pnnially lIew Slnll:lurc is proposccl consistin},! of pairs of conlrasli'c valucs (Security ~ Courage. Managc by yourse if - Gct hdp, Adaptation - Qwn will. and Prioritizc yourscIf - Prioriliz.e others) and non-conlrastivc ..,.,Iucs (I-lappiness, Meaningful ness. Love. Enjoymcnt , To be rcspt:'Clcd. Decper undcrstanding oflhe world. Achiclclllcnt, and HC[lhh). II was hypothcsized that the contrnstivc v31ucs foml il circumplcx Slruclurc and that Ihe llon-contrastivc 'lIlues are positioncd in the middlc or,hi ... slruelure. The eiremnplex stmelurc e;ll1 be understood in terms of four over1'1pping dimensions (Indepcndcnec - Dcpclldcnce, Person focus - Soci;ll focus, Self pre5erv;llion - Self tTilnsccndcncc, ;lnd Com ron - Clml1enge). Different kinds of v;llue s:llicncc (Access, Jrllportallce, Posilive - Negativc cvaluation. Abilily. and Access) weTC used to rneasure the values. 11 wn5 nl50 nsslIIlled that high access lo conlTilstivc vnlues reads to specilie positivc rlnd E1egiuivc emotions. The positivc cmotians are c:.,;pericnccd as a Jcsult of incrcasing acccss to the vnlucs, [md the negative emotions are experienced becansc the oppasitc vn[ucs are losing necess. In line with Ihis nssumplion. il was hYPOlhcsized that less IIc!;alive emotions wou ld bc cxpcricnced in relation 10 a givcn vahtc if ils oppositc is less salicn! . Nonconlrasli 'c values wcrc supposed lo lead lo more positivc and less ncgrllive emolions than the contr;slivc valucs. Study I was a firsl attempt of conslmeting a stmclure of contra"livc and non-contrasti vc vnlues. Sc'cral dcviat ions from a circlllllplcx Slnlcture wcrc round which indiciltl.'tIthat the proposed 'ahlc slntcturc necded fnnher rcvision. Study I [ testcd the final va[ue 51ntcture proposed in Ihis thesis. In Experiment I Ihe conlrasli'c values funlted 11 slmelure Vhieh was closcr lo a pure eireump1cx than has becn found in comparnble data tesling Schwartz' value slmcturc. This was bclicved lo reslI[t from Ihe facll halthc contrastive vrl[lIes have e1c"rcr oppositcs Ihan Ihe V;I[l1C5 in SChw;'1I11.' valuc slmcturc, and th"tlhc non-conlrastivc valncs are cxcludcd. In Experiment 2 thc non-contrastive valucs were with oue cxceptiun positioncd inside the circumplex. Slud}' 111 cunfimled Ihal almost all cOlllraslivc va[ues werc rclalcd specifie positive and negative emOlions. [I was rl[SO shown that lhe salicnee of the oppositcs afTccled thc negative emotions eonneclcd to the conlra~tive va[ues,.md thallhc non-contrastive vallIcs led lo more posilive and less negaTivc cmotians Ihan the cOlltrasti't! "alttes. This tlu,.'sis has presenled and succcssfu lly tcsled a par1ially new SlntClllre for how hUlllan values can he eatcgorizcd, how they are rclated lo e.1eh olher. and how Ihey are re lated to elllotions. Kcy words: Vahle slmelure, emolions, cireump[cx struelure. mu1tivariate slalisticalmelhods Wi l[iam Montgomcry. Depar1mcllt of Ps}'chology, University of Gothcnburg. 80x 500, ,10530 Göteborg, Sweden. Phone: +,167086 10527 . E-mail: [email protected] se ISSN: IIOI-718X ISBN: 978-9 1-628-8333-1 ISRN: OUlPSYKlAVI-I-251--SE Human Valuc Structure and Emotions William Montgomery Department ofPsychology, 2011 Avhandling ror avlilggande av filosorie doktorsexamen i psykologi, som med vederbörligt tillslnnd av samhilllsvetenskapliga fakulteten vid GOteborgs universitet kommer att offentligen fbrsvaras fredagen den 9 september 20 I I, kl. 10.15, sal Fl, Psykologiska institutionen, Haraldsgatan I, Göteborg. Fakultetsopponent: Gregory Maio Deparunent ofPsyehology, CardifTUniversity ll1e lhesis is based on the fOllowing thrce studies refcrrcd to by their roman numeraIs: I. Montgomery, W. (2008). il re-collceplllali=alioll o/vallle stnlc/llre I (Göteborg Psychologieal Reports No. 37:5). Göteborg, Sweden: University ofGolhenburg, Department or Psychology. 11. Montgomery, W., Montgomery, H., & Gilrling, T. (201 I). PlIrifying tlle qllas;-CirClf11lple.., slrlfcllfre 0/111I1I1an mil,es. Unpublished manuscnpt. University ofGothenburg, Department orpsychology. III. Montgomery, W., Montgomery, H., & Gllrling, T. (2011). Positive alld negative emotions re/med lo a circtlmplex vallle slrt/cll/re. Unpublished manuseript. University ofOoUlenburg, Department of Psychology. UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG