What are values?

What drives your moral compass?

Part of understanding what drives your moral compass is knowing who you really are. Ethics in week one was described as, “who you are when no-one is looking”. We also broke down the layers that make us who we are including childhood upbringing, culture, beliefs and values.

Let’s look at values in greater detail.

First of all, like ethics, when was the last time you had a conversation about values, if ever? Are you aware of what your, your family’s, your friends or your work colleague’s values are? Discuss below this article after reading it.

What are values?

Values are, in essence, what’s important to you but they are also what motivates your behaviour. They stem from a need or a void, & that need or void will motivate you to fulfil it which will then drive your behaviours and your actions.

Your values are formed through your childhood and influenced by your upbringing and culture. Different people value different things & this can change as you get older, the hierarchy of that value can also change.

Examples of values

For example, when you are a teenager, friendship will likely be high on your list of values, however, as you get older this could be replaced by family if you have children etc. Core values will likely remain the same throughout your life.

Values can be positive such as fairness, honesty, creativity, challenge, communication, freedom. They can also be negative such as, control, aggressiveness, manipulation, greed and blame.

One of the first researchers to make the link between needs, values and motivation were the philosopher Abraham Maslow (1908-70). He identified two types of needs:

1. Basic needs – including survival, relationships and self-esteem, something that is important to get, have or have more of to feel safe, happy and comfortable in your existing physical and social environment.
2. Growth needs – something you would like to have in order to feel a sense of internal alignment such as finding meaning and purpose in life, freedom and independence, making a difference.

“The amount of attention we give to satisfying a specific set of needs such as our survival, relationship or self-esteem needs, depends on three main factors: The stage we have reached in our psychological development; the life circumstances we were born into or which we are currently experiencing; and the situation in which we find ourselves at a specific moment in time” (Barrett 2014)

Generational values

Being ethical

For example, two athletes will have a high priority value of achievement and success. One will take illegal performance enhancing drugs to boost their chances of success the other won’t.

This brings us back to your moral compass or what influences your ethical stance. This is childhood upbringing, beliefs, culture, later life experiences including codes of conduct, social norms and being a member of a professional body as well as talking about ethical dilemmas.