Wolfgang Bilsky

Bio: Wolfgang Bilsky is an academic researcher from University of Münster. The author has contributed to research in topics: Multidimensional scaling & Fear of crime. The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 59 publications receiving 6728 citations.

Toward A Universal Psychological Structure of Human Values

Abstract: We constructed a theory of the universal types of values as criteria by viewing values as cognitive representations of three universal requirements: (a) biological needs, (b) interactional requirements for interpersonal coordination, and (c) societal demands for group welfare and survival. From these requirements, we have derived and presented conceptual and operational definitions for eight motivational domains of values: enjoyment, security, social power, achievement, sehxiirection, prosocial, restrictive conformity, and maturity. In addition, we have mapped values according to the interests they serve (individualistic vs. collectivist) and the type of goal to which they refer (terminal vs. instrumental). We postulated that the structural organization of value systems reflects the degree to which giving high priority simultaneously to different values is motivationajly and practically feasible or contradictory. To test our theory, we performed smallest space analyses on ratings given by subjects from Israel (N = 455) and Germany (N = 331) of the importance of 36 Rokeach values as guiding principles in their lives. Partitioning of the obtained multidimensional space into regions revealed that people do indeed discriminate among values according to our a priori specifications of goal types, interests served, and motivational domains in both societies. Moreover, the motivational domains of values are organized dynamically in relation to one another in both societies, as predicted by the patterns of compatible or contradictory motivation and practical consequences. We have noted additional values and domains possibly needed for a universal scheme as well as potential applications of this approach for comparing the meanings, structure, and importance of values across cultures, for analyzing relations between social structure and values, and for predicting and interpreting relations of values to attitudes and behavior.

Toward a theory of the universal content and structure of values: Extensions and cross-cultural replications.

Abstract: The universality of Schwartz and Bilsky's (1987) theory of the psychological content and structure of human values was examined with data from Australia, Finland, Hong Kong, Spain, and the United States

Values and personality

Abstract: Personality and differential psychology have paid little attention to values research. Consequently, the constructs used in these subdisciplines have developed independently, and evidence regarding the relations of personality to values is minimal. This study seeks to advance our understanding of these relations and to arrive at a theoretical integration of constructs. Starting from recent developments in values theory (Schwartz, 1992; Schwartz and Bilsky, 1987, 1990) and drawing on Maslow's (1955) distinction between ‘deficiency’ and ‘growth’ needs, we elaborate theoretical links between personality and values with special emphasis on structural relations. A set of hypotheses regarding these relations is generated and tested next, using data from a study with 331 German students. These students completed both the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) and the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI), measuring ten primary and two secondary personality variables, namely extraversion and emotionality. Joint Similarity Structure Analyses (SSAs) of values and personality variables were conducted. The findings reveal both meaningful and systematic associations of value priorities with personality variables, confirming the hypothesized structural relationships. The compatibility of our hypotheses with the complex findings of George (1954) using totally different indexes of both values (Allport–Vernon Study of Values) and personality (drawn from Eysenck and Guilford) further supports the theoretical connections proposed in this study.

The Structural Organization of Human Values: Evidence From Three Rounds of the European Social Survey (ESS)

Abstract: Since 1987, a multitude of studies referring to the Schwartz (1992) structural model of human values have been published. Although most studies support this conceptual approach, few were based on representative samples. The implementation of the biennial European Social Survey (ESS) in 2002, which included responses from 71 representative national samples from 32 countries to a 21-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire, provided data for assessing this model of human values.This article presents structural analyses of these data using a theory-based approach to multidimensional scaling that can be applied to optimally assess the fit of data to diverse theories. The analyses support the circular structure of basic values across countries and within countries across time. They also replicate two findings based on other samples, surveys, and methods of analysis: Deviations from the structure are fewer and the contrast between protection and growth values is sharper in more developed societies.

Assessing Values at an Early Age: The Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS–C)

Abstract: In this article, we introduce the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C): a new assessment instrument that was developed within the conceptual framework of Schwartz's (1994) theory of universal human values. In the article, we describe the development of the PBVS-C with a specific focus on children's cognitive-developmental background (Harter, 1999; La Greca, 1990) and first applications. Multidimensional Scaling analyses in 2 samples of 8- to 12-year-old children (N= 267, N= 421, respectively) revealed highly differentiated structural patterns that closely correspond to Schwartz's theory. We discuss these findings and the potentials and limitations of the new instrument with respect to future directions of values research.

Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.

Abstract: People in different cultures have strikingly different construals of the self, of others, and of the interdependence of the 2. These construals can influence, and in many cases determine, the very nature of individual experience, including cognition, emotion, and motivation. Many Asian cultures have distinct conceptions of individuality that insist on the fundamental relatedness of individuals to each other. The emphasis is on attending to others, fitting in, and harmonious interdependence with them. American culture neither assumes nor values such an overt connectedness among individuals. In contrast, individuals seek to maintain their independence from others by attending to the self and by discovering and expressing their unique inner attributes. As proposed herein, these construals are even more powerful than previously imagined. Theories of the self from both psychology and anthropology are integrated to define in detail the difference between a construal of the self as independent and a construal of the self as interdependent. Each of these divergent construals should have a set of specific consequences for cognition, emotion, and motivation; these consequences are proposed and relevant empirical literature is reviewed. Focusing on differences in self-construals enables apparently inconsistent empirical findings to be reconciled, and raises questions about what have been thought to be culture-free aspects of cognition, emotion, and motivation.

Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 Countries

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter addresses the universals in the content and structure of values, concentrating on the theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries, and its four basic issues: substantive contents of human values; identification of comprehensive set of values; extent to which the meaning of particular values was equivalent for different groups of people; and how the relations among different values was structured. Substantial progress has been made toward resolving each of these issues. Ten motivationally distinct value types that were likely to be recognized within and across cultures and used to form value priorities were identified. Set of value types that was relatively comprehensive, encompassing virtually all the types of values to which individuals attribute at least moderate importance as criteria of evaluation was demonstrated. The evidence from 20 countries was assembled, showing that the meaning of the value types and most of the single values that constitute them was reasonably equivalent across most groups. Two basic dimensions that organize value systems into an integrated motivational structure with consistent value conflicts and compatibilities were discovered. By identifying universal aspects of value content and structure, the chapter has laid the foundations for investigating culture-specific aspects in the future.

The WEIRDest People in the World

Abstract: Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior in the world's top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchers - often implicitly - assume that either there is little variation across human populations, or that these "standard subjects" are as representative of the species as any other population. Are these assumptions justified? Here, our review of the comparative database from across the behavioral sciences suggests both that there is substantial variability in experimental results across populations and that WEIRD subjects are particularly unusual compared with the rest of the species - frequent outliers. The domains reviewed include visual perception, fairness, cooperation, spatial reasoning, categorization and inferential induction, moral reasoning, reasoning styles, self-concepts and related motivations, and the heritability of IQ. The findings suggest that members of WEIRD societies, including young children, are among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans. Many of these findings involve domains that are associated with fundamental aspects of psychology, motivation, and behavior - hence, there are no obvious a priori grounds for claiming that a particular behavioral phenomenon is universal based on sampling from a single subpopulation. Overall, these empirical patterns suggests that we need to be less cavalier in addressing questions of human nature on the basis of data drawn from this particularly thin, and rather unusual, slice of humanity. We close by proposing ways to structurally re-organize the behavioral sciences to best tackle these challenges.

Are There Universal Aspects in the Structure and Contents of Human Values

Abstract: This article presents a theory of potentially universal aspects in the content of human values. Ten types of values are distinguished by their motivational goals. The theory also postulates a structure of relations among the value types, based on the conflicts and compatibilities experienced when pursuing them. This structure permits one to relate systems of value priorities, as an integrated whole, to other variables. A new values instrument, based on the theory and suitable for cross-cultural research, is described. Evidence relevant for assessing the theory, from 97 samples in 44 countries, is summarized. Relations of this approach to Rokeach's work on values and to other theories and research on value dimensions are discussed. Application of the approach to social issues is exemplified in the domains of politics and intergroup relations.

The Influence of Culture, Community, and the Nested-Self in the Stress Process: Advancing Conservation of Resources Theory

Abstract: Conservation of Resources (COR) theory predicts that resource loss is the principal ingredient in the stress process. Resource gain, in turn, is depicted as of increasing importance in the context of loss. Because resources are also used to prevent resource loss, at each stage of the stress process people are increasingly vulnerable to negative stress sequelae, that if ongoing result in rapid and impactful loss spirals. COR theory is seen as an alternative to appraisal-based stress theories because it relies more centrally on the objective and culturally construed nature of the environment in determining the stress process, rather than the individual’s personal construel. COR theory has been successfully employed in predicting a range of stress outcomes in organisational settings, health contexts, following traumatic stress, and in the face of everyday stressors. Recent advances in understanding the biological, cognitive, and social bases of stress responding are seen as consistent with the original formulation of COR theory, but call for envisioning of COR theory and the stress process within a more collectivist backdrop than was first posited. The role of both resource losses and gains in predicting positive stress outcomes is also considered. Finally, the limitations and applications of COR theory are discussed.