For example, Warren H. believes that it is very important that each person dedicate himself or herself to the welfare of the community. But unfortunately he lacks the talent and energy to make a large contribution to the community. When he compares his actual contribution to the contribution he believes one should make, his self-comparison is negative, leading to sadness and depression.
Values are more fundamental than ordinary goals.
We can think of values as goals that are based on the individual's deepest beliefs about human life and society, assessments of what is good and what is evil. Nor is there any logical flaw in the thinking of the English cabinet minister John Profumo who courted danger for his country by consorting with prostitutes who were also consorting with a Soviet spy. Nor is a person irrational who kills a child in an avoidable auto accident and then judges himself harshly because he has contravened his highest value by destroying human life. There is nothing irrational about the subsequent negative self-comparisons between his behavior and his ideal self which result in depression. Indeed, the guilt and depression may be seen as an appropriate self-punishment, similar to thea punishment of the person that society may inflict by sending the person to jail.