Values are enduring directions that help you decide how you want to behave. They are not achievements to complete, rules imposed by other people or labels that make one person better than another.
This original CounselorAid assessment helps you identify personally meaningful values, evaluate how consistently you live them and recognise tensions between competing priorities. It is designed for self-reflection and psychology coaching, not diagnosis or personality classification.
- Assessment type: Values clarification and alignment exercise
- Completion time: 15–20 minutes
- Structure: Value selection, importance rating, lived-alignment rating and action planning
- Evidence status: Informed by Schwartz’s theory of basic human values and values-guided behavioural approaches; not psychometrically validated
Values, goals and preferences are different
| Concept | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Value | An ongoing quality of action | Being caring in relationships |
| Goal | A result that can be completed | Calling a family member twice this week |
| Preference | Something you like or favour | Preferring quiet places |
| Rule | A demand about what you must do | “I must never disappoint anyone” |
A useful value can guide many different actions. A goal may serve a value, but reaching one goal does not finish the value. Values can also conflict. For example, security may pull toward caution while growth pulls toward experimentation. Good values work involves making conscious trade-offs rather than pretending every priority can be maximised at once.
Research background
Schwartz’s theory describes values as broad motivational goals arranged in a circular structure. Neighbouring values tend to be compatible, while opposing values may create tension—for example, openness to change versus conservation, or self-enhancement versus self-transcendence. This exercise uses plain-language value themes and original wording. It does not reproduce the Portrait Values Questionnaire or provide a standardised Schwartz score.
Step 1: Review the value themes
Read the list and mark up to ten values that feel personally meaningful. Choose what matters to you, not what sounds socially admirable.
| Value | Practical meaning |
|---|---|
| Achievement | Developing competence and accomplishing worthwhile goals |
| Adventure | Seeking novelty, challenge and new experience |
| Autonomy | Making considered choices and directing your own life |
| Care | Responding to others with concern and kindness |
| Community | Contributing to groups, neighbourhoods or shared causes |
| Creativity | Generating, expressing or building something original |
| Curiosity | Exploring ideas, people and experience with openness |
| Fairness | Acting with justice, consistency and respect for rights |
| Family | Investing in supportive family relationships |
| Freedom | Having room to choose, speak and move responsibly |
| Growth | Learning, adapting and developing capacity |
| Health | Caring for physical and psychological well-being |
| Honesty | Being truthful and transparent within appropriate boundaries |
| Humility | Seeing yourself accurately without superiority or self-erasure |
| Learning | Building knowledge and understanding |
| Loyalty | Showing commitment to people, principles or communities |
| Meaning | Connecting actions with a larger sense of purpose |
| Play | Making space for enjoyment, humour and recreation |
| Responsibility | Following through and accepting the effects of your choices |
| Security | Creating stability, safety and predictability |
| Service | Using time or ability to benefit others |
| Spirituality | Living in connection with faith, transcendence or sacred meaning |
| Tradition | Honouring practices and continuity that carry meaning |
| Well-being | Creating a sustainable and satisfying life |
Step 2: Reduce the list to five core values
Compare the ten values in pairs. Ask: “If I could express only one of these during a difficult decision, which would I want to guide my behaviour?” Continue until five remain.
| Core value | My definition | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. __________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 2. __________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 3. __________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 4. __________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 5. __________ | ________________ | ________________ |
Step 3: Rate importance and lived alignment
For each value, rate:
- Importance: 1 = low importance, 10 = central to how I want to live
- Current alignment: 1 = rarely expressed, 10 = consistently expressed in observable behaviour
| Value | Importance 1–10 | Alignment 1–10 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. ______ | ___ | ___ | ___ |
| 2. ______ | ___ | ___ | ___ |
| 3. ______ | ___ | ___ | ___ |
| 4. ______ | ___ | ___ | ___ |
| 5. ______ | ___ | ___ | ___ |
Calculate the gap by subtracting Alignment from Importance. A positive gap shows that the value matters more than your current behaviour reflects. A negative gap may mean the value is consuming more time than its true importance warrants, or that the ratings need reconsideration.
Interpreting the alignment gap
| Gap | Reflection |
|---|---|
| 0–1 | Your current behaviour broadly reflects this value. |
| 2–3 | A modest opportunity exists for more consistent expression. |
| 4–5 | This value may be crowded out by habits, pressure, fear or competing priorities. |
| 6–9 | There is a substantial gap worth exploring carefully; avoid turning it into self-criticism. |
The gap is not a moral score. Limited money, health, caregiving responsibilities, discrimination, unsafe environments and other constraints can restrict values expression. Focus on the smallest action realistically available.
Step 4: Identify values conflicts
- Which two values compete for time, money or attention?
- Does security conflict with growth or adventure?
- Does care for others conflict with health, autonomy or boundaries?
- Does achievement conflict with rest, relationships or play?
- Which value should lead in this season of life, and which still needs a minimum level of protection?
Step 5: Convert values into behaviour
| Value | One behaviour this week | Obstacle | If–then plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| ________ | ________________ | ________ | If ______, then I will ______. |
| ________ | ________________ | ________ | If ______, then I will ______. |
Values become useful when translated into observable actions. The Weekly Reflection Check-In can help you review whether the action occurred and what influenced it.
Common values mistakes
- Choosing admired words: Selecting values because they sound impressive.
- Confusing compliance with care: Believing that caring requires saying yes to every request.
- Using values as weapons: Judging others as inferior because they prioritise differently.
- Ignoring context: Expecting perfect alignment despite realistic constraints.
- Turning values into rigid rules: Healthy values guide flexible action; they do not eliminate judgement.
Recommended internal resources
- Explore values and committed action in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
- Use cognitive defusion exercises when fear-based thoughts block values-guided action.
- Review personal congruence in The Power of Authenticity.
- Complete the Self-Awareness Assessment to examine motives and patterns.
Limitations
Values are influenced by culture, family, religion, life stage, social position and current circumstances. A short exercise cannot establish a permanent hierarchy. Ratings may change when a person is grieving, unsafe, financially pressured or entering a new role. Revisit the exercise when circumstances meaningfully change.
Frequently asked questions
Can two values conflict?
Yes. Values often create trade-offs. The aim is not to remove all conflict but to choose deliberately and protect what matters most.
Are values the same as morals?
They overlap, but values also include priorities such as creativity, learning, security and adventure. Moral principles focus more specifically on right conduct.
Can values change?
Core patterns may be relatively stable, but priorities and interpretations can shift with development, culture, roles and life events.
Should I maximise every core value?
No. Values guide balanced decisions. Maximising one value without limits may undermine other important areas.
Research foundation
- Schwartz SH, et al. Refining the Theory of Basic Individual Values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2012;103(4):663–688.
- Hayes SC, Strosahl KD, Wilson KG. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change. Guilford Press.
Important: This is an original CounselorAid values-clarification exercise. It does not reproduce the Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire and does not provide validated value-type scores.