Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Values and Behavior pp 191–218Cite as

Values and Affective Well-Being: How Culture and Environmental Threat Influence Their Association

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

Personal values motivate people’s actions, beliefs, and evaluations. But which values facilitate affective well-being? And does the answer depend on the context in which individuals are embedded? This chapter elaborates on how cultural factors and environmental threats facilitate or inhibit personal value’s influences on affective experiences. I present the Regulate-Threat Model of Affective Well-being arguing that those values provide more positive affective responses that are encouraged by the cultural context or prescribed by the environmental threats. Moreover, these two mechanisms interact with each other: Adequate cultural responses to threats diminish the impact of threats on value-well-being associations. Data from four contexts with varying cultural and environmental characteristics (cultural embeddedness vs. cultural autonomy; external threats high vs. low) revealed that external threats foster links between affective well-being and values that protect against these threats, namely conservation and prosocial values. Furthermore, cultural embeddedness diminished the impact of external threats on value-well-being associations. Value-based affective well-being seems largely culturally and environmentally constrained, and cultural factors moderate the impact of threats on value-well-being associations. This chapter adds a novel perspective to the current knowledge on cultural context and situational hazards impacting on personal values and their influences on well-being.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    I used the scores by Hofstede (2001; individualism-collectivism), Schwartz (2006; embeddedness, intellectual and affective autonomy; average of student and teacher data), Inglehart (1997; survival vs. self-expression; most recent available datapoint in the World Value Survey before wave 6), and GLOBE (House et al. 2004; institutional collectivism; ingroup collectivism did not load onto the factor and was therefore omitted). Ecological factor analysis on all available country data was conducted in order to produce globally applicable scores (in total an average score for 111 countries is available from the author upon request). A single factor (58% variance explained) representing cultural autonomy versus embeddedness values (high individualism, high autonomy/low embeddedness, high self-expression/low survival, low institutional collectivism) was extracted, and an average score was calculated based on standardized mean values of the four value scores.

  2. 2.

    Ethnic compositions of the sample are as follows: Kenya (16% Kikuyu, 9% Luo, 7% Giriama, 6% Kalenjin, 6% Chonyi, 5% Kisii, 26% other ethnicities, 26% not specified), New Zealand (59% Pakeha [New Zealander of European descent], 6% Maori, 1% Pacific Islander, 13% Overseas born, 5% Asian New Zealander, 11% New Zealander, 5% not specified), and South Africa (18% Black, 12% Colored, 26% White, Caucasian, English, 9% Indian, Asian, 7% African, 6% Zulu, 16% other ethnicities, 6% not specified). No information on ethnic background was collected in Mexico.

References

  • Bardi, A., & Schwartz, S. H. (2003). Values and behavior: Strength and structure of relations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(10), 1207–1220. doi:10.1177/0146167203254602

  • Bobowik, M., van Oudenhoven, J. P., Basabe, N., Telletxea, S., & Páez, D. (2011). What is the better predictor of students’ personal values: Parents’ values or students’ personality? International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35(4), 488–498. doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.02.006

  • Boer, D., & Boehnke, K. (2016). What are values? Where do they come from? A developmental perspective. In T. Brosch & D. Sander (Eds). Handbook of value: Perspectives from economics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and sociology (pp. 129–151). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198716600.003.0007

  • Boer, D., & Fischer, R. (2013). How and when do personal values guide our attitudes and sociality? Explaining cross-cultural variability in attitude-value linkages. Psychological Bulletin, 139(5), 1113–1147. doi:10.1037/a0031347

  • Boer, D., Fischer, R., Tekman, H. G., Abubakar, A. A., Njenga, J., & Zenger, M. (2012). Young people’s topography of musical functions: Personal, social and cultural experiences with music across genders and six cultures. International Journal of Psychology, 47, 355–369. doi:10.1080/00207594.2012.656128

  • Borg, I., & Bardi, A. (2016). Should ratings of the importance of personal values be centered? Journal of Research in Personality, 63, 95–101. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2016.05.011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheon, B. K., & Hong, Y. Y. (2016). The cultural neuroscience of intergroup bias. In J. Chiao, S. C. Li, & R. Turner (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of cultural neuroscience (pp. 249–270). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199357376.013.18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chirkov, V. I., Ryan, R. M., Kim, Y., & Kaplan, U. (2003). Differentiating autonomy from individualism and independence: A self-determination theory perspective on internalization of cultural orientations and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 97–110. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.97.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155–159. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, D. (2001). Cultural variation: Considerations and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 127(4), 451–471. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.4.451.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Curhan, K. B., Sims, T., Markus, H. R., Kitayama, S., Karasawa, M., Kawakami, N., et al. (2014). Just how bad negative affect is for your health depends on culture. Psychological Science, 25(12), 2277–2280. doi:10.1177/0956797614543802.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Diener, C. (1996). Most people are happy. Psychological Science, 7(3), 181–185. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00354.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Ng, W., Harter, J., & Arora, R. (2010). Wealth and happiness across the world: Material prosperity predicts life evaluation, whereas psychosocial prosperity predicts positive feeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 52–61. doi:10.1037/a0018066.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 403–425. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145056.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Ryan, K. L. (1991a). Universals and cultural differences in the causes and structure of happiness: A multilevel review. In C. Keyes (Ed.), Mental well-being. Dordrecht: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-5195-8_8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Sandvik, E., & Pavot, W. (1991b). Happiness is the frequency, not the intensity, of positive versus negative affect. In F. Strack, M. Argyle, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Subjective well-being: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 119–139). Oxford: Pergamon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). New measures of well-being: Flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 39, 247–266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobewall, H., Aavik, T., Konstabel, K., Schwartz, S. H., & Realo, A. (2014). A comparison of self-other agreement in personal values versus the Big Five personality traits. Journal of Research in Personality, 50, 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.01.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (2010). Intergroup bias. In Handbook of social psychology. New York: Wiley. doi:10.1002/9780470561119.socpsy002029.

  • Faulkner, J., Schaller, M., Park, J. H., & Duncan, L. A. (2004). Evolved disease-avoidance mechanisms and contemporary xenophobic attitudes. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 7(4), 333–353. doi:10.1177/1368430204046142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, G., Boer, D., Fischer, R., Hanke, K., Ferreira, M. C., Gouveia, V. V., et al. (2016). “Get Up, stand up, stand up for your rights!”: The Jamaicanization of youth across 11 countries through reggae music? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47, 581–604. doi:10.1177/0022022116632910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fincher, C. L., Thornhill, R., Murray, D. R., & Schaller, M. (2008). Pathogen prevalence predicts human cross-cultural variability in individualism/collectivism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 275, 1279–1285. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0094.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2013). Gene-environment interactions influence the endorsement of social hierarchy values and beliefs across cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44, 1107–1121. doi:10.1177/0022022112471896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Boer, D. (2011). What is more important for national well-being: Money or autonomy? A meta-analysis of well-being, burnout and anxiety across 63 societies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 164–184. doi:10.1037/a0023663.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Boer, D. (2015). Motivational basis of personality traits: A meta-analysis of value-personality correlations. Journal of Personality, 83(5), 491–510. doi:10.1111/jopy.12125.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Boer, D. (2016). Values: The dynamic nexus between biology, ecology and culture. Current Opinion in Psychology, 8, 155–160. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.12.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Van de Vliert, E. (2011). Does climate undermine subjective well-being? A 58-nation study. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(8), 1031–1041. doi:10.1177/0146167211407075.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frisch, J. U., Häusser, J. A., Van Dick, R., & Mojzisch, A. (2014). Making support work: The interplay between social support and social identity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 154–161. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.06.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelfand, M. J., Raver, J. L., Nishii, L., Leslie, L. M., Lun, J., Lim, B. C., et al. (2011). Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study. Science, 332(6033), 1100–1104. doi:10.1126/science.1197754.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanel, P. H., & Wolfradt, U. (2016). The ‘dark side’ of personal values: Relations to clinical constructs and their implications. Personality and Individual Differences, 97, 140–145. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.045.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haslam, N., Whelan, J., & Bastian, B. (2009). Big five traits mediate associations between values and subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 40–44. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2008.09.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He, J., & van de Vijver, F. J. (2015). Self-presentation styles in self-reports: Linking the general factors of response styles, personality traits, and values in a longitudinal study. Personality and Individual Differences, 81, 129–134. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.09.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henry, J. D., & Crawford, J. R. (2005). The short‐form version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS‐21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non‐clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44(2), 227–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences—International differences in work-related values. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences—Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks: Sage. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(02)00184-5.

    Google Scholar 

  • House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: Cultural, economic and political change in 43 societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jamaludin, N. L., Sam, D. L., Sandal, G. M., & Adam, A. A. (2016). Personal values, subjective well-being and destination-loyalty intention of international students. SpringerPlus, 5(1), 1–11. doi:10.1186/s40064-016-2439-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joshanloo, M., & Ghaedi, G. (2009). Value priorities as predictors of hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 294–298. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2009.03.016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (Eds.). (1999). Well-being: foundations of hedonic psychology: Foundations of hedonic psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasser, T., & Ahuvia, A. C. (2002). Materialistic values and well-being in business students. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 137–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindeman, M., & Verkasalo, M. (2005). Measuring values with the Short Schwartz’s Value Survey. Journal of Personality Assessment, 85, 170–178. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa8502_09.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lukat, J., Margraf, J., Becker, E. S., van der Veld, W., & Lutz, R. (2014). Test criteria of the positive mental health scale (P-scale). University of Bochum: Unpublished manuscript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maercker, A., Chi Zhang, X., Gao, Z., Kochetkov, Y., Lu, S., Sang, Z., et al. (2015). Personal value orientations as mediated predictors of mental health: A three-culture study of Chinese, Russian, and German university students. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 15(1), 8–17. doi:10.1016/j.ijchp.2014.06.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markovits, Y., Boer, D., & van Dick, R. (2014). Economic crisis and the employee: The effects of economic crisis on employee job satisfaction, commitment, and self-regulation. European Management Journal, 32, 413–422. doi:10.1016/j.emj.2013.09.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mroczek, D. K., & Kolarz, C. M. (1998). The effect of age on positive and negative affect: A developmental perspective on happiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1333–1349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S., & Diener, E. (2001). Goals, culture, and subjective well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(12), 1674–1682. doi:10.1177/01461672012712010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roccas, S., Sagiv, L., Schwartz, S. H., & Knafo, A. (2002). The big five personality factors and personal values. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 789–801. doi:10.1177/0146167202289008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719–727.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sagiv, L., Roccas, S., & Hazan, O. (2004). Value pathways to well-being: Healthy values, valued goal attainment, and environmental congruence. In A. Linley & J. Stephen (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (pp. 68–85). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sagiv, L., Roccas, S., & Oppenheim-Weller, S. (2015). Values and well-being. In S. Joseph (Ed.), Positive psychology in practice: Promoting human flourishing in work, health, education, and everyday life (2nd ed., pp. 103–120). Hoboken: Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781118996874.ch7.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sagiv, L., & Schwarz, S. H. (2000). Value priorities and subjective wellbeing: Direct relations and congruity effects. European Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 177–198. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0992(200003/04)30:2<177:AID-EJSP982>3.0.CO;2-Z.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaller, M., & Murray, D. R. (2008). Pathogens, personality, and culture: Disease prevalence predicts worldwide variability in sociosexuality, extraversion, and openness to experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(1), 212–221. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.212.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scheler, M. (1973). Formalism in ethics and non-formal ethics of values: A new attempt toward the foundation of an ethical personalism. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60281-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (2006). A theory of cultural value orientations: Explication and applications. Comparative Sociology, 5, 137–182. doi:10.1163/156913306778667357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H., Cieciuch, J., Vecchione, M., Davidov, E., Fischer, R., Beierlein, C., et al. (2012). Refining the theory of basic individual values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(4), 663–688. doi:10.1037/a0029393.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H., Melech, G., Lehmann, A., Burgess, S., Harris, M., & Owens, V. (2001). Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(5), 519–542. doi:10.1177/0022022101032005001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon, K. M., & Krieger, L. S. (2014). Walking the talk: Value importance, value enactment, and well-being. Motivation and Emotion, 38(5), 609–619. doi:10.1007/s11031-014-9424-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sirgy, J. (2012). The psychology of quality of life: Hedonic well-being, life satisfaction, and eudaimonia (Vol. 50). Berlin: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4405-9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sortheix, F. M., & Lönnqvist, J.-E. (2014). Personal value priorities and life satisfaction in Europe: The moderating role of socioeconomic development. Journal of Cross Psychology, 45(2), 282–299. doi:10.1177/0022022113504621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sortheix, F. M., & Lönnqvist, J. (2015). Person-group value congruence and subjective well-being in students from Argentina, Bulgaria and Finland: The role of interpersonal relationships. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 25(1), 34–48. doi:10.1002/casp.2193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steel, P., Schmidt, J., & Shultz, J. (2008). Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 138–161. doi:10.1037/00332909.134.1.13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective well-being around the world. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 354–565. doi:10.1037/a0023779.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thornhill, R., & Fincher, C. L. (2014). The parasite-stress theory of values and sociality: Infectious disease, history and human values worldwide. Berlin: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-08040-6.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Thornhill, R., Fincher, C. L., & Aran, D. (2009). Parasites, democratization, and the liberalization of values across contemporary countries. Biological Reviews, 84, 113–131. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00062.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thornhill, R., Fincher, C. L., Murray, D. R., & Schaller, M. (2010). Zoonotic and non-zoonotic diseases in relation to human personality and societal values: Support for the parasite-stress model. Evolutionary Psychology, 8, 151–169. doi:10.1177/147470491000800201.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Vliert, E. (2009). Climate, affluence, and culture. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511575297.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Vliert, E. (2013). Climato-economic habitats support patterns of human needs, stresses, and freedoms. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36, 465–480. doi:10.1017/S0140525X12002828.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vansteenkiste, M., Duriez, B., Simons, J., & Soenens, B. (2006). Materialistic values and well-being among business students: Further evidence of their detrimental effect. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(12), 2892–2908. doi:10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00134.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Scheve, C. (2016). Societal origins of values and evaluative feelings. In T. Brosch & D. Sander (Eds.), Handbook of Value: perspectives from economics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and sociology (pp. 175–195). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198716600.003.0009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Welzel, C., & Inglehart, R. (2010). Agency, values, and well-being: A human development model. Social Indicators Research, 97, 43–63. doi:10.1007/s11205-009-9557-z.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz, Germany

    Diana Boer

Authors
  1. Diana Boer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diana Boer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, Israel

    Sonia Roccas

  2. School of Business Administration, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Lilach Sagiv

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Boer, D. (2017). Values and Affective Well-Being: How Culture and Environmental Threat Influence Their Association. In: Roccas, S., Sagiv, L. (eds) Values and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56352-7_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation