No abstract

Decision-making is understood to be influenced by genetic and environmental factors related to need, as are personal values. Personal values are a component of personality known to influence decision-making in agreement with the circular structure of the Schwartz (1992) system. We set out to explore whether personal values also exert complementary linear patterns of influence on heuristics and performance in fluid intelligence and creativity tests. Such patterns are predicted by an evolutionary theory that proposes the influence of values described by Schwartz (1992) evolve sequentially and incrementally in living systems, internalising the schema of a pre-existing system of universal equivalents. Testing N=1317 individuals with challenges derived from Kahneman and Tversky and others, we found values exerted both circular and linear influences on intuitive and rational decision-making. These were apparent in overall value/response correlation patterns, and in the performance of individuals allocated to linear, values-based, quasi-Maslowian (1943) motivational types. Performance in fluid intelligence and creativity tests most strongly betrayed linear, developmental patterns of influence. In relation to a Bayesian inference challenge, tentative support was also forthcoming for the hypothesis that those most likely to be subject to values-related conflicts would be most likely to avoid giving erroneous intuitive responses by engaging rational system 2 thinking (Stanovich & West, 2000). This suggests values may also play a role in mediating between rational and irrational systems of thinking. These findings extend our understanding of the role values play in individual decision-making, and by extension, their importance in organizational and societal decision-making.

Traits and personal values are important components of personality. The Schwartz (1992) system provides a comprehensive means of measuring the latter, but neither the Big Five or its HEXACO update provides a comprehensive and systematic means of measuring the former. Despite this, there is a tendency in academia for personality research to focus on traits. Previous research shows that values, like traits, are heritable and can be read reliably by others. Also, unlike traits, differences in values have been shown to support popular perceptions regarding the personality differences of siblings and only-children. Building from foundations in physical science and drawing from research in evolutionary biology and complexity theory, we present a theory that suggests Schwartz’s system of values represents and evolved from universal schema. According to this, equivalents of all values are present in the universal system and internalised hierarchically as local systems become increasingly complex and adaptive. It states that equivalents of benevolence and the conservation values are present in all stable systems, that organisms increasingly internalise equivalents to the self-enhancing values, until, with the evolution of intelligence, equivalents to the pro-change values of hedonism, stimulation and self-direction are internalised. While the independent thought and action associated with self-direction, and an ability to recognise one’s place in a wider system (universalism) are not unique to humanity, they are uniquely developed in humanity, and only in humanity does reciprocal altruism (benevolence) operate rationally and universally. We conclude by providing testable hypotheses and examples of sympathetic cultural developments.

Brains, individuals, humanity, and the universe in which they emerged are complex adaptive systems. Driven by common motivations related to the second law of thermodynamics, their dynamism is regulated by localised cooperation and competition between components. Cooperation is associated with energy conservation and stability, competition with energy loss and disorder. All systems can be evaluated in terms of their propensity to change and the interplay of cooperation and competition between components. The Schwartz system of values, which provides a parsimonious description of the human motivational system, has axes that describe just these characteristics. We argue that its structure evolved to represent a pre-existing universal equivalent. The motives of stable, energy-conserving pre-biotic systems can be attributed to the equivalent of its conservation/cooperation quadrant. With the evolution of organisms, subordinate competitive motives were integrated to facilitate dynamism. Pro-change motives subsequently emerged in intelligent organisms, to be supplemented by widely framed and consciously cooperative motives in humanity. We present experimental and other evidence showing that human decision-making exhibits linear, hierarchical patterns of values-based influence consistent with this evolutionary sequence. The implications of this on established psychological theory, and the potential insights it offers in relation to personal, organizational, and societal development are discussed.

Traits and personal values are important components of personality. The Schwartz (1992) system provides a comprehensive means of measuring the latter, but neither the Big Five or its HEXACO update provides a comprehensive and systematic means of measuring the former. Despite this, there is a tendency in academia for personality research to focus on traits. Previous research shows that values, like traits, are heritable and can be read reliably by others. Also, unlike traits, differences in values have been shown to support popular perceptions regarding the personality differences of siblings and only-children. Building from foundations in physical science and drawing from research in evolutionary biology and complexity theory, we present a theory that suggests Schwartz’s system of values represents and evolved from universal schema. According to this, equivalents of all values are present in the universal system and internalised hierarchically as local systems become increasingly complex and adaptive. It states that equivalents of benevolence and the conservation values are present in all stable systems, that organisms increasingly internalise equivalents to the self-enhancing values, until, with the evolution of intelligence, equivalents to the pro-change values of hedonism, stimulation and self-direction are internalised. While the independent thought and action associated with self-direction, and an ability to recognise one’s place in a wider system (universalism) are not unique to humanity, they are uniquely developed in humanity, and only in humanity does reciprocal altruism (benevolence) operate rationally and universally. We conclude by providing testable hypotheses and examples of sympathetic cultural developments.