Attitudes and Values

Attitudes are our likes and dislikes towards anything and anyone that can be evaluated. This can be something as concrete as a mosquito that is tormenting you during the night or abstract and broad as capitalism or communism. In contrast, human values have been defined as abstract ideals and guiding principles in our life, and are considered as abstract as well as trans-situational. Thus, while both attitudes and values are important constructs in psychology that are necessarily related, there are also a range of differences between the two. Attitudes are specific judgements towards an object, values are abstract and trans-situational; attitudes can be positive and negative, values are mainly positive; and attitudes are less relevant for our self-concept than values. A range of studies have investigated how values and attitudes towards specific topics are associated. The rationale for most studies is that people’s values guide whether they like certain people, an object, or an idea. For example, the more people value universalism (e.g., equality, broad-mindedness), the more they support equal rights for groups that are typically disadvantaged. However, these associations can also be complex. If people do not consider an attitude to be a relevant expression of a value, it is less likely that the value predicts this attitude. Further, it can also matter for our attitudes whether our values match those of the people in our country, are similar to other social groups (e.g., immigrants), and whether we think our own groups’ values are similar or dissimilar to the values of other groups. In sum, the literature shows that the links between values and attitudes are both entrenched and malleable and that these interrelations have many important consequences for understanding social-political divisions and well-being.