Associations Between Personal Values and Regulatory Focus: A Partial Replication for Basic Values and an Extension to Refined Values

Abstract

Together, human values (trans-situational goals) and self-regulatory focus on promotion versus prevention (aspirations/gains vs. obligations/losses reference standards) provide a more complete view of human motivation. Scarce previous work with relatively small samples associated these motivational systems to each other but provided mixed results. Following previous studies, we examined associations between self-regulatory focus on promotion versus prevention and the 10 basic values (N_{joint_samples} = 1035). Additionally, we examined associations between promotion and prevention focus and the 20 refined values (N_{joint_samples} = 2779). Replicating past work, prevention was positively (negatively) associated with conservation (openness-to-change) values. Unlike in previous work, promotion was positively associated with most openness-to-change values (self-direction—thought, stimulation and less consistently also hedonism) and negatively associated with most conservation values (security—societal, conformity—interpersonal, face and less consistently also tradition). Regarding self-transcendence versus self-enhancement values, no systematic associations (universalism, humility) or associations contradicting past work emerged, with both foci being differently associated with achievement and positively (negatively) associated with benevolence (power).