This original and engaging book advocates an unabashedly empirical approach to understanding human values: abstract ideals that we consider important, such as freedom, equality, achievement, helpfulness, security, tradition, and peace. Our values are relevant to everything we do, helping us choose between careers, schools, romantic partners, places to live, things to buy, who to vote for, and much more. There is enormous public interest in the psychology of values and a growing recognition of the need for a deeper understanding of the ways in which values are embedded in our attitudes and behavior. How do they affect our well-being, our relationships with other people, our prosperity, and our environment?
In his examination of these questions, Maio focuses on tests of theories about values, through observations of what people actually think and do. In the past five decades, psychological research has learned a lot about values, and this book describes what we have learned and why it is important. It provides the first overview of psychological research looking at how we mentally represent and use our values, and constitutes important reading for psychology students at all levels, as well as academics in psychology and related social and health sciences.
Preface: The Problem of Human Values. Overview. Thanks. Section 1: Beginnings in the Empirical Study of Human Values 1. A brief history of values 2. Types of values. Section 2: Values in Psychology 3. Connections to motives, traits, and habits 4. Connections to ideology and attitudes 5. Components of values. Section 3: Forces that Shape Values 6. Personal influences on Values 7. Social influences on Values. Section 4: When and how values matter 8. Effects on prejudice and well-being 9. When values matter 10. How values matter. Epilogue: Where do we go from here?
Biography
Gregory R. Maio is Professor of Social Psychology at Cardiff University, Wales. He has published widely on the topics of social values, attitudes, and behavior. He received a Canadian Governor General’s Gold Medal and the British Psychological Society Spearman Medal for his early career research and co-authored "The Psychology of Attitudes and Attitude Change" (2010, 2015).
"This is a thought-provoking book on values, bringing together work not just from psychology but also from other disciplines, such as philosophy. The book includes many new ideas based on diverse literature and I can see it contributing to the thinking of academics as well as the general public." Anat Bardi, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
"Professor Maio provides a lucid, thoughtful, thorough, and integrative picture of the current state of psychological research and theory on values. His book is a worthy successor to Milton Rokeach's seminal work and will, I'm sure, shape the field for years to come." Tim Kasser, Professor & Chair of Psychology, Knox College, Illinois, USA
"Some books are milestones in an area. The Psychology of Values is one of those. Values receive remarkably little attention in psychology, considering how fundamental values are in our lives and societies. Gregory Maio's passion for this topic will be much appreciated by students and researchers in psychology and beyond." Bas Verplanken, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Bath, UK
