Measuring Social Value Orientation

Narrow self-interest is often used as a simplifying assumption when studying people making decisions in social contexts. Nonetheless, people exhibit a wide range of different motivations when choosing unilaterally among interdependent outcomes. Measuring the magnitude of the concern people have for others, sometimes called Social Value Orientation (SVO), has been an interest of many social scientists for decades and several different measurement methods have been developed so far. Here we introduce a new measure of SVO that has several advantages over existent methods. A detailed description of the new measurement method is presented, along with norming data that provide evidence of its solid psychometric properties. We conclude with a brief discussion of the research streams that would benefit from a more sensitive and higher resolution measure of SVO, and extend an invitation to others to use this new measure which is freely availabl

Value orientation, left-right placement and voting

In this article we try to disentangle the constraints between traditional lines of political polarization (left-right placement) and newer distinctions (materialist/postmaterialist values) among mass publics. It is shown that voting or party preference is most clearly related to the left-right placement of the respondents. However, this placement is directly and strongly dependent on the materialist/postmaterialist orientation, while background variables like education, income and age are linked to voting via this value orientation. The materialist/postmaterialist orientation appears to be the present-day interpretation of the dominant political conflict in advanced industrial society. Although alignments and orientations count for a substantive part of the variance in voting, the power of these models to predict the actual vote of people turns out to be rather poor

The Impact of Social Value Orientation and Risk Attitudes on Trust and Reciprocity

Prior experimental studies provide evidence that the levels of trust and reciprocity are highly susceptible to individuals’ preferences towards payoffs, prior experience, capacity to learn more about personal characteristics of each other and social distance. The objective of this study is to examine whether social value orientation as developed by Griesinger and Livingstone (1973) and Liebrand (1984) and risk preferences can help to account for the variability of trust and trustworthiness. We use the Berg et al. (1995) investment game to generate indices of trust and reciprocity. Prior to their participation in the investment game, all subjects participated in two other games. One is used to measure their social value orientation (a measure of other regarding behavior) and the second to measure risk attitudes. These variables are introduced as treatments in the analysis of the trust and reciprocity data. In addition to these preference related variables, gender is introduced to capture any differences between men and women which may not be encompassed by value orientation and risk attitudes. The statistical analysis indicates that the social value orientation measure significantly accounts for variation in trust and reciprocity. As well, the level of trust exhibited by an investor significantly affects the reciprocity of the responders and this measure of trust interacts with social value orientation. Individuals who are highly pro-social reciprocate more as the sender’s trust increases, while those who are highly pro-self reciprocate less as the sender’s trust increases. For this sample of participants, the gender variable does not capture any differences in the behavior of men and women that is not already reflected by the differences captured by their value orientations. Risk attitudes do not significantly account for variation in trusting behavior, except for the case where individuals have neither strongly pro-social nor pro-self social value orientations. In this case, more riskseeking individuals are more trusting.Trust, Reciprocity, Social Value Orientation, Risk Attitudes, Gender

About prisoners and dictators: the role of other-self focus, social value orientation, and sterotype primes in shaping cooperative behavior.

Six experiments examined the effects of person factors (i.e., social value orientation and consistency) and situation factors (i.e., stereotype primes) on cooperative behavior in various experimental games. Results indicated that the main and joint influences of person and situation factors on cooperative choices depend on the nature of the game (i.e., prisoner's dilemma or dictator game). Social value orientation, consistency, and primes affect cooperative behavior only in a dictator game, while these factors also lead to rumination about partner's behavioral intentions and personality (and therefore to different cooperative choices) in a prisoner's dilemma game. Differences between these games were explained in terms of the impact they have on other- and self-focus.Choice; Consistency; Dictator game; Effects; Factors; Prisoner's dilemma game; Social Value Orientation; Stereotype Priming; Value;

The importance of meta-economics

E.F. Schumacher was one of the first scholars who recognized the crucial role of metaeconomics. In his "Small is beautiful" he writes: "The science of economics is 'so prone to usurp the rest' … because it relates to certain very strong drives of human nature, such as envy and greed. All the greater is the duty of its experts, the economists, to understand and clarify its limitations, that is to say, to understand meta-economics." (Schumacher, E. F. 1973: p. 38) Meta-economics is the basic assumptions about the subject-matter, value-orientation and methodology of economics. (Zsolnai, L. 1991) The paper attempts to reconstruct the metaeconomic foundation of mainstream economics and that of alternative economics initiated by Schumacher. It shows how the emerging alternative economics transcends the erroneous metaeconomic assumptions of mainstream economics by considering the total economic process, choosing sustainable livelihood as basic value-orientation, and employing a constructive methodology

Social value orientation as a moral intuition: Decision-making in the dictator game

We studied the decision making process in the Dictator Game and showed that decisions are the result of a two-step process. In a first step, decision makers generate an automatic, intuitive proposal. Given sufficient motivation and cognitive resources, they adjust this in a second, more deliberated phase. In line with the social intuitionist model, we show that one’s Social Value Orientation determines intuitive choice tendencies in the first step, and that this effect is mediated by the dictator’s perceived interpersonal closeness with the receiver. Self-interested concerns subsequently lead to a reduction of donation size in step 2. Finally, we show that increasing interpersonal closeness can promote pro-social decision-making.Dictator game; social dilemma; decision-making; two stage model; social value orientation, interpersonal closeness

Social value orientation as a moral intuition: Decision making in the dictator game.

We studied the hypothesis that social value orientations are expressed automatically in behavior, as would be suggested by the social intuitionist model. We observed automatic and deliberated decisions in the dictator game and confirmed that social values determine behavior when responses are based on the intuitive system. By means of both mediation and experimental analyses we further demonstrate that the automatic expression of social value orientations is mediated by perceptions of interpersonal closeness. Conscious deliberation can subsequently override these automatic responses and disconnects dictator game decisions from perceptions of interpersonal closeness. This results in lower levels of other-regarding behavior, at least for prosocials.dictator game; social dilemma; dual processes; social value orientation; interpersonal closeness;

The endogenous nature of social preferences

This paper presents evidence which challenges the view that techniques which are designed to measure the social preferences of subjects can always be accomplished in a nonintrusive manner. We find evidence that such measurements can influence the preferences which they are designed to measure. Researchers often measure social preferences by posing a series of dictator game allocation decisions; we use a particular technique, Social Value Orientation (SVO). In our experiment we vary the order of the SVO measurement and a lager stakes dictator game. We find that subjects with prosocial preferences act even more prosocially when the SVO measurement is administered first, whereas those with selfish preferences are unaffected by the order of the measurement. Additionally, we find evidence that this difference is driven by the presence of choices involving the size of surplus.Other-Regarding Preferences; Social Value Orientation; Dictator Game

Value Orientation, Awareness of Consequences, and Environmental Concern

The tenets of the value-basis approach to environmental concern are (i) that environmental concern is motivated by beliefs about adverse egoistic (e.g., own health), social-altruistic (e.g., peoples’ health), and biospheric consequences of environmental problems (e.g., the balance of the ecosystems), and (ii) that the relative importance of these consequences for environmental concern is determined by individuals’ value orientations, generally proposed to be altruistic (self-transcendence) and egoistic (self-enhancement) value orientations. This thesis examines the basic tenets of the value-basis approach. In Study I the relationships between self-transcendence and self-enhancement value orientations and concern for and beliefs about egoistic, social-altruistic, and biospheric consequences of environmental problems were examined. A survey of Swedish residents (n = 494) showed that both concern for and beliefs about egoistic, social-altruistic, and biospheric consequences of environmental problems are related to the three value types power (concern for and beliefs about egoistic consequences), benevolence (concern for and beliefs about social-altruistic consequences), and universalism (concern for and beliefs about biospheric consequences) located on a value orientation dimension from self-enhancement to self-transcendence. It was also shown that beliefs about consequences partially mediate the effects of value orientation on environmental concern. Study II examined the relationships between self-enhancement and self-transcendent value orientations, beliefs about occurrence of specific environmental problems, and concern for consequences of these problems, and whether these factors and their relationships account for attitudes towards and stated willingness to pay (SWTP) for eco-labeled electricity. Another survey of Swedish residents (n = 855) showed that a self-transcendence value orientation, beliefs about environmental problems, and concern for consequences of the problems are positively related to attitude towards and SWTP for eco-labeled electricity. The results also showed that beliefs about occurrence of environmental problems partially mediate the positive influence of a self-transcendence value orientation on environmental concern. In turn, environmental concern was shown to partially mediate the influences of beliefs about environmental problems on attitude towards eco-labeled electricity. Study III examined influences of egoistically, altruistically, and biospherically framed messages on SWTP for eco-labeled electricity, and whether such influences are moderated by self-transcendence versus self-enhancement value orientation. An experiment conducted in the context of another survey of Swedish residents (n = 476) showed that SWTP for eco-labeled electricity is higher for biospherically framed messages than for egoistically and altruistically framed messages and increases with self-transcendence. It further showed that the effect of framing of messages on SWTP for eco-labeled electricity is not moderated by value orientation. In Study IV using the same survey data as in Study III, the relationship between self-transcendence versus self-enhancement value orientation and SWTP for eco-labeled electricity was reexamined and contrasted to the relationship between this dimension and stated willingness to reduce (SWTR) electricity consumption. The results showed that while there is a relationship between the value orientation dimension and SWTP for eco-labeled electricity there is no relationship between this dimension and SWTR electricity consumption. This was accounted for by assuming that it is more difficult to reduce electricity consumption than purchasing eco-labeled electricity. In conclusion, the four studies provide further empirical support for significant relationships between self-transcendence versus self-enhancement value orientations and pro-environmental attitudes. The main contribution is that these relationships are mediated by beliefs about environmental problems and environmental protection as well as moderated by situational influences

Orientasi Nilai Pelaku Musik Hardcore

Human being is unique. No one is either physically or psychologically identical with others. Being different from others requires courage and is the choice in life. Selection of value orientation will make an individual being has a way and control of life as a form of value orientation which is believed and embraced. Hardcore music performer is one of many differences in value orientation adopted by men. A hardcore music performer certainly has a reason in choosing it as a a way of life.The objective of the research is to know and to understand the value orientation of the hardcore music performers in the Kudus Regency. The informants of the reasearch are the hardcore music performers located in Kudus Regency who are involved in Komunitas Kudus Hardcore Community (KDHC). Value orientation in the research is viewed by using motivational types of value which is proposed by Schwartz. Orientation value proposed by Schwartz consists of 10 types of values consisting of power, prestige, pleasure, stimulation, self direction, unity, virtue, tradition, compatibility and security.Based on the coding of interviews and observations conducted on the three informants shows that the hardcore music performers in Kudus Regency have value orientations that lead to the value of creativity and the other value that stands out is the value orientation led to the value of independence