In an earlier post on values and personality, I explained why values could be considered a type of personality trait. Personality traits are typically defined as "consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, or actions that distinguish people from one another" (Johnson, 1997, p. 74). Values are often defined similarly, for example, "Values are dispositions to experience affect-laden cognitions that draw people toward desired outcomes" (Longest, Hitlin, & Vaisey, 2013, p. 1500). (Cognition and affect are technical terms for thoughts and feelings, respectively).

Thoughts or cognitions can refer to many different mental processes or contents. In the case of values, we are talking about beliefs about what is good, right, important, and worth striving for (and sometimes worth fighting or even dying for). These beliefs are not neutral and disinterested; they are accompanied by strong feelings or affect, which motivate us to pursue what we value.

My previous post further explained why, even though values are part of personality, most research on values has been conducted by social psychologists such as Milton Rokeach, Shalom Schwartz, and Jonathan Haidt rather than personality psychologists. It is because Gordon Allport's early taxonomy of personality traits, from which the Big Five model of personality emerged, intentionally omitted value-laden trait terms. Interestingly, despite attempts to keep values out of personality, empirical research has demonstrated that Schwartz's and Haidt's value measures are meaningfully related to the Big Five. I ended the previous post with a promise to discuss additional issues about personality and values, such as how moral values differ from other values and how values can guide our choice of careers. This current post delivers on that promise.

When people hear the word "values" they often immediately think of morality. But moral values refer specifically to good behavior, behavior that we........

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