What is a hierarchy of values, and how do you create one?

Each person has their own way of seeing and interpreting the world, a unique vision that has been nurtured based on his experiences, personality traits and teachings from his family.

This makes each one value in one way or another the different aspects that make up our life, such as family, money, religion, culture, work or whatever comes to mind.

The hierarchy of values ​​is this mental structure in which we organize what we consider most valuable and significant in our lives of what is not so, and also what we consider to be good and what is bad. Let's take a closer look at it.

• Related article: "The 10 types of values: principles that govern our lives"

What is a hierarchy of values?

We can define as a hierarchy of values ​​that structure in which we place the beliefs and attitudes that determine our behavior, assigning each of them a certain importance. The values ​​that make up such a hierarchy are not stable over time, since depending on our experience, changes of opinion and social influences we value one thing or another differently throughout our life.

Values ​​differ from individual to individual and highly variable depending on our social, work, cultural and religious environment. Each person has a range of values ​​that he considers superior and inferior, establishing his own concept of what is moral, philosophical, aesthetic and ethical in her life. For example, there are those who consider the family and everything related to it as of high value, while for others it is money and leisure that take on a great weight in their lives.

• You may be interested in: "What is Cultural Psychology?"

Component elements of the hierarchy of values

Generally, the hierarchy of values is faithful to the representation of what the individual considers necessary to lead a happy and well-being life.

This mental structure is formed throughout the life of each individual based on his experiences and mixed with his personality and values ​​acquired from peers, which usually delimit what is right and what is wrong within a society. There are three fundamental elements that determine this structure.

1. Perceptions of the individual

The individual's perceptions and interpretations of the world in which he lives will determine what his values ​​are.. In turn, the establishment of such values ​​will respond to the needs, interests, aspirations, training and personal conditions of the person who welcomes them.

• You may be interested in: "17 curiosities about human perception"

2. Value qualities

The second aspect that determines the structure of the hierarchy of values ​​has to do with the qualities of value, closely related to the personal preference of each one but also to how it is interpreted as positive or negative from a social perspective.

3. Situation of the individual

The third aspect has to do with the momentary situation in which the person lives. This is the most unstable element, since we all go through different situations throughout life that can make us change our mind and value in a different way an aspect that, in the past, was very valued.

Characteristics of the securities

We can highlight different characteristics of the values taking into account the three aspects just mentioned:

• Values ​​have two poles, one positive and one negative (good vs bad).
• It manifests itself in the form of rank, from worst / bad to better / good.
• The hierarchy in which they are organized will depend on social, moral and ethical aspects.
• They are flexible, being able to change over time according to the experiences and needs of individuals.
• They differ in durability. There are more durable values ​​than others.

• Related article: "Maslow's Pyramid: The Hierarchy of Human Needs"

Max Scheler's hierarchy of values

Values ​​have been the subject of study since ancient times. Already in Classical Greece philosophers like Plato and Aristotle raised treatises on ethics, morals, beauty and aesthetics, trying to organize what were the most important values ​​for the life of man.

As the centuries passed, the philosophy of David Hume appeared, a Scottish philosopher who studied ethics and was concerned with the way in which moral judgments were made. It is these moral judgments that play a key role when establishing what is good and what is evil, ideas that determine both what we understand as socially accepted values ​​and the hierarchy that we establish with them.

One of the key figures when it comes to talking about the hierarchy of values ​​is the German philosopher Max Scheler. This thinker is known for his studies of axiology, a branch of philosophy that studies values, their nature and essence. Scheler's great contribution is to have proposed a hierarchy of values, establishing a very well organized structure of the levels that he considered that made up the priority and importance that people give to different values ​​according to social thought.

Max Scheler's proposal for a hierarchy of values, starting from lowest to highest level of importance, is as follows:

1. Pleasant values

Also known as hedonistic values, the values ​​of the pleasant correspond to the affective states through which we feel and seek pleasure, and feel and avoid pain. They are those that are directly related to what we understand as pleasant and unpleasant.

2. Vital values

Vital values refer to the life of the body, that is, those related to health, disease, physiological needs and instinct. Their search is made to achieve biological well-being, while their deprivation involves discomfort and health problems.

3. Spiritual values

Spiritual values are those that, according to Scheler's model, are captured through our spirit and do not involve the corporeal. Here we would find the aesthetic, legal, intellectual and pure knowledge values.

4. Religious values

Finally, in the hierarchy proposed by Max Scheler, we have religious values, which would be the ones that would have the greatest degree of importance. They are made up of the sacred and he defined it by differentiating between the holy and the profane.

Examples of types of values

Although Max Scheler's model is interesting and serves to give a little shape to what can be understood as a hierarchy of values, the truth is that each can set their own. What is understood by a value is very subjective and the importance we give it is even more so, therefore, making a model in which you specify what the levels of this type of hierarchy are is really complicated.

However, as an example and as a guide for anyone who wants to embark on the adventure of writing their own hierarchy of values, assessing what you consider to be more important in your life than what is not so important, below we leave 6 types of values ​​to keep in mind consideration.

1. Social values

Social values understand the importance we give to people who are part of our social environment, be they family, friends or society itself. They have a lot to do with prosocial behaviors, adaptation to the culture of birth or host.

2. Religious values

Religious values ​​are established by each religious doctrine, denomination or sect. They can be values ​​associated with a very well defined religion or, also, more alternative beliefs, of a pagan or sectarian nature.

• Related article: "The Origins of Religion: How Did It Appear and Why?"

3. Moral values

Moral values are those that derive from their relationship with society and are useful when making decisions, being subject to the ethical.

4. Biological or physiological values

Biological or physiological values ​​are those that arise from the basic needs of the human being, having relation to food, health, the need for protection and maintenance of physical and psychological integrity, among others.

5. Economic values

Economic values are directly related to wealth. They are those with which material, commercial, and goods needs are satisfied ...

• You may be interested in: "Behavioral economics: what is it and how does it explain decision-making"

6. Aesthetic values

Aesthetic values are those who focus on beauty as an object of interest, looking for balance, functionality and also visual impact.

Hierarchy of values ​​example

Taking into consideration the 6 examples that we have just seen, Here you can see an example of a hierarchy of values ​​ordered from most to least important.

• Family and friends (social)
• Faith and religion (religious)
• Solidarity, cooperation and doing good (moral)
• Sex, diet and health (physiological)
• Beauty, art and culture (aesthetic)
• Labor, material goods and (economic) savings

The importance of the hierarchy of values

The hierarchy of values ​​of each one is valuable because it is a structure composed of our convictions that determines many aspects of our behavior. Guides and guides our actions and motivates us towards the achievement of different goals or behave in a way that we consider correct based on our own values.

This hierarchy of values ​​is unique to each individual, but it is also shaped socially. That is, the combination of the values ​​of each individual within a society make up a common hierarchy of values, composed of those values socially desirable and that those who do not share them or move away from them, can be marginalized or seen as people who are not governed by what the majority supports.

At the individual level, the most important values ​​are those that make up our identity, those that determine our particular way of expressing ourselves and living.

The clearer and higher they are in the hierarchy of values, the more they will serve us to guide our behavior and give it a a certain meaning to our life, guiding us to carry out a certain purpose or have a perspective of the future and vital.