Beliefs and Values: The Compass of Our Ships
By: Ankur Jayakar
Tags: Beliefs, Integral Theory, Values, Vuca World, Transformation

P.C. —www.zastavki.com

In this maddening world spinning at unprecedented speed, each one of us is making far too many decisions on any given day than what our cave-dweller ancestors could have possibly handled in their entire lifetime! What guides us while we are making all those decisions now and then? Are the guiding forces behind our most critical decisions in life clearly understood? What decides which side we choose when we face a dilemma? Is it something outwardly visible factor like religion, political alliance, culture, nationality, race, skin colour, language, social status, financial status? Or is it something much deeper like needs, beliefs and values?

Three Basic Needs. I think we all will agree on one thing that we take many important decisions in our lives to ensure that the boat isn’t rocked much. In the hindsight, good decisions are those which lead us to a more stable and predictable life whereas bad decisions are those which bring turbulence and setbacks in our lives. In other words, we ensure that our decisions do not threaten our three basic needs — biological needs, social interaction needs and survival/welfare needs as a group.

The Unknown ‘Why’. In today’s VUCA world, assessing the quality of every decision only in hindsight may not be an option at all. One wrong decision may wipe off our existence and therefore it becomes all the more important to know the rudders that guide our ship in stormy seas of uncertainty. While we cannot do much to control the uncertain forces acting upon us in today’s world, what we must do is understand where our most important decisions originate from. It’s our core beliefs and values which guide our decisions whether we realize it or not. The subconscious and unconscious nature of our own beliefs and values make us blind to the genesis behind our decisions.

“Values are conceived as abstract structures that involve the beliefs that people hold about desirable ways of behaving or about desirable end states” — Norman T Feather

The Few Who Rule The World. These beliefs and values derived out of them are relatively stable but may change across the life span. They work as criteria or frameworks against which every experience is tested and decisions are taken. The relative importance of different values for a person may vary as the context of a situation changes (Norman Feather). Values are embedded much deeper and wider in a person’s personality. A particular belief may have a cluster of supporting and opposing beliefs. This cluster of beliefs is cognitively linked with that value and is functionally demonstrated as our attitudes, conducts and behaviours. Values are significantly related to variations in socio-economic status, age, gender, race, religion and lifestyle. At the same time values are significant predictors of many social attitudes and behaviours such as consumer behaviour, political affiliations, economic decisions, substance abuse and so on… This probably also defines why we may have several beliefs and thousands of attitudes but only a few values to live by (Milton Rockeach).

The origins of our beliefs are determined heavily by the familial and sociocultural context in which we are raised.

The Debt of The Society. A larger role is played by our families and societies in telling us which values are acceptable and which aren’t. It is our societies which tell us which values are positive and which ones are negative. The positivity or negativity attached to a value may not have any direct bearing on benefits it delivers to a person. For example, a serial killer may derive some inexplicable pleasure out of his gruesome murders but that doesn’t make the belief of murdering someone for pleasure a positive belief. The positivity or negativity attached with a value determines its impact on survival or welfare of the larger society and therefore indirectly decides a person’s acceptance in his society. In other words, different factors interact in deciding which belief/value to acquire but the qualitative order of different beliefs and values depends on their contribution towards building a stable, predictable and sustainable society.

Renowned neuroscientist Dr Andrew Newberg (the author of Why We Believe What We Believe, The Rabbi’s Brain, The Mystical Mind, etc) says — “we have no choice but to believe. From the moment we are born, we depend on others to teach us about the world. As children, we are given a specific language, a particular religion, and a taste of science, and we unconsciously assume that we are learning facts about the world. We are not. We are simply being told what to believe”.

Values being something really important and deep inside us, we cherish the worth to live by them. They powerfully drive us to avoid pain and induce the desire to gain benefits, rewards and pleasures. Values are our content filters and form as we go through countless experiences from time to time. Values provide us with insight into why we have made many decisions that shaped our life. They are the essence of our operational existence and expression of our deep inner selves. Thus, our uniqueness and individuality, our essence and core, and ways of expressing and relating are governed by our value system.

Many behavioural scientists and researchers have described values as our Decision Guiding Compass. We make our lives enriched and satisfying by honouring our value system. On the other end of the spectrum, a compromise on our values makes us uncomfortable in many situations of life. Many a time, we confuse values with emotions. It must be understood well that values do generate emotions but values are not emotions. Values define our existence and give meaning to whatever we do with clear cut evidence. For a layman,

Values are those expressions of our inner self that are important, worth it, bring health to our bodies, happiness to our minds, holiness to our hearts and create wealth.

Since values are abstract structures, they can take many names and forms. Values can be classified as ‘towards’ values, creating emotions and experiences that we are compelled towards. We also have ‘away’ values generating massive pain for us so that we are compelled to move away from them. We also have unscripted ‘rules and criteria’ that let us verify if our values are being met or not. These rules and criteria are pieces of evidence for us to let us know if we are confirming to our ‘towards’ values and keep us on our guard to ensure we stay clear of our ‘away’ values. Some examples of ‘towards’ values are peace, excellence, elegance, etc. whereas some examples of ‘away’ values are embarrassment, vulnerability, pain, etc. Values can also be classified as ‘ends’ value and ‘means’ values. For example, money or riches is a means value which may provide us ends values such as power, security, freedom, etc. Conflicting values don’t let us progress in life. They retard our efforts and speed.

A broader classification is offered by Shalom Schwartz who classifies values into 10 “Value Types”. These are presented next. Each value type mentioned in bold is further defined in terms of some related values:-

Power: Social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources (authority, social power, wealth, preserving my public image) Achievement: Personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards (ambitious, successful, capable, influential) Hedonism: Pleasure or sensuous gratification for oneself (pleasure, enjoying life, self-indulgent) Stimulation: Excitement, novelty, and challenge in life (daring, a varied life, an exciting life) Self-direction: Independent thought and action — choosing, creating, exploring (creativity, freedom, independent, choosing own goals, curious) Universalism: Understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature (equality, social justice, wisdom, broadminded, protecting the environment, unity with nature, a world of beauty) Benevolence: Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent personal contact (helpful, honest, forgiving, loyal, responsible) Tradition: Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion provides (devout, respect for tradition, humble, moderate) Conformity: Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms (self-discipline, politeness, honoring parents and elders, obedience) Security: Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of self (family security, national security, social order, clean, reciprocation of favors)

Shalom Schwartz also provides us with a gist of what many theorists think about values by giving us six main features of values as follows:-

Values are beliefs linked inextricably to affect Values refer to desirable goals that motivate action Values transcend specific actions and situations Values serve as standards or criteria Values are ordered by importance relative to one another The relative importance of multiple values guides action

The Killer Resistance. The beliefs and values once acquired and internalized, a person develops a tendency to resist efforts or evidence that might contradict or compromise the integrity of their beliefs and values. That’s why we often meet people who refuse to accept a better way of dealing with their life’s situations. This sticky property of beliefs and values gives us most pious saints and most gory criminals. This resistance preserves and protects a person’s internal image of the world from being seen, known and altered even when it is not helping his or her cause. The often seen hesitation to participate in exploratory exercises to identify one’s beliefs and values is an attempt to avoid anxiety, shame, guilt or depression that may arrive as a result of exposing one’s internal model of the world. This resistance to such exploration exists not only at the individual level but also at the group/team level and societal level. That’s why we often see not only individuals but also groups/companies/large corporations/tribes/societies succumbing to the environmental pressures but refusing to change their beliefs and values.

The catalyst of Integral Transformation. Having said that, getting clarity about our beliefs and value system is the start point to bring any paradigm shift in our state as an individual as well as a group or a society. No integral transformation can occur unless we are clear about what holds us back in the current state in the first place. Such knowledge then lets us know which of our current beliefs and values support us in achieving our desired end state and which don’t. For example, a sick business cannot transform itself into a successful one unless the management and its employees understand which of their beliefs and values are responsible for their current failure and which one are necessary to be imbibed for future success. This paradigm shift in beliefs and values transformed Japan from a manufacturer of cheap products to world-class products post WW II. Decisions taken with clarity about your own beliefs and values are always more fulfilling.

Don’t Choose, Search. The process of clarifying values is not easy and may not be a straight path. It demands from a person a closer investigation of their life with greater awareness. The subconscious nature of values makes them hard to identify even when they are omnipresent in all our small and big decisions. A ready-made list of values may prove to be counterproductive as a person may tend to choose impressive values rather than search the true value. Such a list can only be helpful when enough investigative work has been done by the person and one is searching for specific words that fit the bill. In my opinion, though the exact words don’t matter, the ability to put labels in one or two words or a short phrase resonating with our self helps in identifying distinct values governing our life.

To conclude, understanding our value system is a colossally useful attempt in learning to know ourselves. A coach can provide the right insights to a client by asking value eliciting questions. The coach and client co-create means to use values to generate fulfilling choices, design appropriate actions, and resolve issues related to conflicting values.