Guiding Values Quick Look

Origins Of Guiding Values

Eduard Spranger identified six attitudes that guide our lives:

Theoretical

Economic

Aesthetic

Social

Individualistic

Traditional

Many modern researchers use the word value instead of attitudes, and have renamed them. This website uses:

Knowledge

Usefulness

Harmony

Belief

Helping

Position

Purposeful Imperfection

The graphic sizes below are imperfectly matched.

I could have ‘fixed’ them so that they match in size,
but I purposefully left them imperfect.

I want to give you practice in recognizing opportunity
in spite of imperfection.

Guiding Value Blends

Each value has a task or people orientation and a principle to live by. We each have two guiding values that blend together to guide our decisions about how we live our principles.

The First value determines the blend with the Second value. Below is one possible way each blend guides decisions.

Knowledge

Blend                             Knowledge with Usefulness
Principles                    Reasoned Evidence with Highest Return
Orientations               Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Applying facts and problem solving strategies to accumulating wealth

Blend                            Knowledge with Harmony
Principles                   Reasoned Evidence with Inner Peace
Orientations               Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Identifying and organizing information to understand and enjoy nature, beauty, and balance

Blend                            Knowledge with Belief
Principles                    Reasoned Evidence with Righteousness Living
Orientations             Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Finding information that justifies or explains beliefs

Blend                              Knowledge with Helping
Principles                     Reasoned Evidence with Social Loyalty
Orientations               Task with People
Guided Decisions     Gathering and presenting information about social problems and solutions

Blend                              Knowledge with Position
Principle                       Reasoned Evidence with High Status
Orientation                 Task with People
Guided Decisions     Using facts and theories to justify their status and beneficial alliances

Usefulness

Blend                             Usefulness with Knowledge
Principles                    Highest Return with Reasoned Evidence
Orientations               Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Accumulating wealth and eliminating waste using information and problem solving strategies

Blend                             Usefulness with Harmony
Principles                    Highest Return with Inner Peace
Orientations              Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Requiring usefulness from all activities, objects, and relationships.

Blend                             Usefulness with Belief
Principles                    Highest Return with Righteousness Living
Orientations               Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Seeing personal wealth as proof they have a superior Righteousness Living.

Blend                            Usefulness with Helping
Principles                   Highest Return with Social Loyalty
Orientations               Task with People
Guided Decisions     Expecting something useful to their needs in return for helping others.

Blend                            Usefulness with Position
Principles                    Highest Return with High Status
Orientations              Task with People
Guided Decisions     Using power over resources to take power over people

Harmony

Blend                            Harmony with Knowledge
Principles                    Inner Peace with Reasoned Evidence
Orientations               Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Creating beauty, harmony, balance, and social relationships by identifying and organizing information

Blend                              Harmony with Usefulness
Principles                    Inner Peace with Highest Return
Orientations               Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Creating beauty, harmony, balance, and relationship experiences that provide a satisfying return

Blend                            Harmony with Belief
Principles                    Inner Peace with Righteousness Living
Orientations               Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Using poetry, music, dance, and ritual to create and justify moral consciousness

Blend                             Harmony + Helping
Principles                   Inner Peace + Social Loyalty
Orientations               Task + People
Guided Decisions     Using music, writing, poetry, art, and relationships based on shared experiences to help others

Blend                              Harmony with Position
Principles                     Inner Peace with High Status
Orientations               Task with People
Guided Decisions     Creating satisfying experiences that enhance their status and provide opportunities to create alliances

Belief

Blend                             Belief with Knowledge
Principles                      Righteousness Living with Reasoned Evidence
Orientations                Task with Task
Guided Decisions      Affirming their belief by finding evidence and organizing it into patterns that reveal truth for them

Blend                             Belief with Usefulness
Principles                    Righteousness Living with Highest Return
Orientations    Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Seeing justifications in their belief for acquiring what is useful to them

Blend                            Belief with Harmony
Principles                   Righteousness Living with Inner Peace
Orientations               Task with Task
Guided Decisions     Finding Righteousness Living through their own experiences

Blend                             Belief with Helping
Principles                     Righteousness Living with Social Loyalty
Orientations               Task with People
Guided Decisions     Living their highest values through helping others

Blend                              Belief with Position
Principles                     Righteousness Living with High Status
Orientations               Task with People
Guided Decisions     Using their beliefs to advance their position

Helping

Blend                            Helping with Knowledge
Principles                     Social Loyalty with Reasoned Evidence
Orientations               People with Task
Guided Decisions     Helping people and improving society with information and strategies for solving problems

Blend                              Helping with Usefulness
Principles                    Social Loyalty with Highest Return
Orientations                People with Task
Guided Decisions     Helping and improving society in ways that are useful to them

Blend                             Helping with Harmony
Principles                     Social Loyalty with Inner Peace
Orientations               People with Task
Guided Decisions     Helping others enjoy and create beauty, harmony, balance, and social relationships

Blend                            Helping with Belief
Principles                    Social Loyalty with Righteousness Living
Orientations               People with Task
Guided Decisions     Helping others according to their belief

Blend                              Helping with Position
Principles                   Social Loyalty with High Status
Orientations               People with People
Guided Decisions     Helping others through a structure of power and beneficial alliances

Position

Blend                            Position with Knowledge
Principles                    High Status with Reasoned Evidence
Orientations               People with Task
Guided Decisions     Improving their status and power through strategies based on evidence

Blend                              Position with Usefulness
Principles                     High Status with Highest Return
Orientations               People with Task
Guided Decisions     Seeking power through wealth and resources

Blend                              Position with Harmony
Principles                     High Status with Inner Peace
Orientations               People with Task
Guided Decisions     Maintaining their status through experiences that satisfy the people in their alliances

Blend                              Position with Belief
Principles                     High Status with Righteousness Living
Orientations               People with Task
Guided Decisions     Achieving power through converting others to their beliefs

Blend                              Position with Helping
Principles                     High Status with Social Loyalty
Orientations People with People
Guided Decisions     Leading others to help people in need