Values, Valences, and Choice: The Influence of Values on the Perceived Attractiveness and Choice of Alternatives

Hypotheses about relations between values, valences, and choice were tested in a study in which 239 university students completed the Schwartz Value Survey (S. H. Schwartz, 1992) and then responded to 10 hypothetical scenarios, each of which presented them with 2 alternative courses of action assumed to prime different value types from the Schwartz circular structure. For each scenario, participants rated the attractiveness or valence of each alternative and then indicated which one they would choose. Results showed that, as predicted, valences were related to value types, and choice of alternative was a function of both value types and valences. The pattern of relations was consistent with the assumption that values may induce valences on potential actions and outcomes and that value types may be organized into 2 bipolar dimensions, one of which contrasts openness to change with conservation and the other of which contrasts self-enhancement with self-transcendence.