Values, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

Values

Basic preferences toward behavior that have the quality of positive reflexiveness. Positive reflexiveness means that one wants more of the quality than may be reflected through one's actions, and that the more one engages in such actions, the more one tends to want the quality as an aspect of one's self. Even when one fails to act on such a preference, one may still value it, because one wants to demonstrate more of it through life than one may be currently capable of evincing. Interests per se lack this quality of positive reflexiveness, but are otherwise similar to values.

This definition of value, and its relation to the concept of interest, corresponds fairly directly to the distinction drawn by philosopher Harry Frankfurt (1982) between first- and second-order desires, where interests are more like the former and values are more like the latter.

In general, it is fair to say that within most theories put forward by career development-oriented and other vocational psychologists, the treatment of the concept of value has been less clearly distinguished and distinguishable from the concept of interest.

Probably the best known and most widely applied and investigated treatment of values among vocational psychologists is Rokeach's (1973) theory and measure. Rokeach distinguishes between terminal and instrumental values, with the former referring to desirable end-states of existence and the latter being associated with preferable modes of behavior. Thus, "Pleasure" may serve as a terminal value, while "Cheerful" may serve as an instrumental one.

Borrowing from Rokeach (1973), Brown (1996) defines values as believes with cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects. Values in Brown's theory serve a variety of purposes, including standards against which to judge actions, serve as the basis for setting goals (and therefore aid decision-making), and support rationalizing behavior. Although values are a function of individuals, environments can reflect values through the influence of powerful individuals. Brown assumes that values affect career development through the operation of a values system, comprised of a relatively small set of values. Brown assumes that satisfaction arises from finding a set of life roles that satisfy the core values of this values system.

Some other career development theorists (Dawis, 1996; Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996) also emphasize the role of values, but their treatment differs from Brown's in many respects.

In a more general sense, one may also point to evaluative considerations that affect the overall social policy of a society's economy, and that therefore must trickle-down to affect the lives of ordinary workers. Examples of such global values might include assumptions regarding how workers should comport themselves in different types of economic systems, e.g., feudal, free-market, socialist, communist.

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