PORTRAIT 1 / 200 of 20 answered
Thinking up new ideas and being creative is important to them. They like to do things in their own way.
What personal values are, in short
Personal values are broad goals that guide your choices across situations, such as security, achievement or caring for others. Shalom Schwartz identified ten values that appear in every culture studied, arranged in a circle where neighbours support each other and opposites pull against each other.
What matters isn't how much you agree with each value, since most people like all of them, but how they rank against each other. That's why the circle shows each value relative to your own average. The portraits are our own wording, modelled on Schwartz's method.
By What's Your IQ · Reviewed 4 Oct 2026- Format
- 20 portraits, 2 per value, rated 1–6
- Scoring
- Each value compared with your own average
- Model
- Schwartz's theory of basic human values (1992)
- Tested in
- Samples from over 80 countries
WHY IT'S A CIRCLE
Opposite values pull you in opposite directions
Pick a value. Its neighbours tend to go together; the value across the circle is the one it most often clashes with. The dilemma shows what that clash looks like in everyday life.
OPENNESS TO CHANGESelf-directionIndependent thought and action: choosing, creating, exploring.Goes with: Universalism, Stimulation
CONSERVATIONSecuritySafety, stability and harmony in society and relationships.Goes with: Power, Conformity
Benevolence first, power lastis the order most people shareAcross dozens of countries, average rankings were strikingly similar: caring for close others, fairness and independence near the top, power and tradition near the bottom.2
1992Ten universal values. Schwartz tested his theory in 20 countries and found the same ten values, in the same circular arrangement, everywhere.1
2001A shared hierarchy. Schwartz and Bardi showed that, despite cultural differences, people everywhere rank the values in a broadly similar order.2
2011People differ more than countries. Fischer and Schwartz found far more variation in values between individuals within a country than between country averages.3
2012A finer circle. A refined version split the ten values into 19 narrower ones, keeping the same circular order.4
- Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65.
- Schwartz, S. H., & Bardi, A. (2001). Value hierarchies across cultures: Taking a similarities perspective. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(3), 268–290.
- Fischer, R., & Schwartz, S. (2011). Whence differences in value priorities? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42(7), 1127–1144.
- Schwartz, S. H., et al. (2012). Refining the theory of basic individual values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(4), 663–688.