ACCURACY OF JUDGMENT OF VALUE SYSTEMS: A FIELD STUDY OF OWN AND ATTRIBUTED VALUE PRIORITIES IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Australian expatriate students and indigenous Niuginean students in the higher grades of secondary schools in Papua New Guinea ranked either the terminal or instrumental values from the Rokeach Value Survey, first for self then for the other group. Results indicated that there were distinctive differences in the average value systems pertaining to self when the two groups were compared and that neither group was able to make accurate judgments of the value priorities of the other. These results were discussed in terms of the various influences affecting value systems in different national groups, the effects of limited social contact on accuracy of judgment, and the difficulty of making accurate judgments about the value priorities of other groups considered in the aggregate.