Value Profile Scale
Bales and Couch‚ 1969
Acceptance of Authority
1. Obedience and respect for Authority are the most important virtues children should learn.
2. There is hardly anything lower than a person who does not feel a great love‚ gratitude‚ and respect for his parents.
3. What youth needs most is strict discipline‚ rugged determination‚ and the will to work and fight for family and country.
4. You have to respect Authority and when you stop respecting authority; your situation isn’t worth much.
5. Patriotism and loyalty are the first and the most important requirements of a good citizen.
6. Young people sometimes get rebellious ideas‚ but as they grow up they ought to get over them and settle down.
7. A child should not be allowed to talk back to his parents‚ or else he will lose respect for them.
8. The facts on crime and sexual immorality show that we will have to crack down harder on young people if we are going to save our moral standards.
9. Disobeying an order is one thing you can’t excuse -- if one can get away with disobedience‚ why can’t everybody?
10.A well-raised child is one who doesn’t have to be told twice to do something.
Need-determined Expression vs. Value-determined Restraint
1. Since there are no values which can be eternal‚ the only real values are those which meet the needs of the given moment.
2. Nothing is static‚ nothing is everlasting‚ at any moment one must be ready to meet the change in environment by a necessary change in one’s moral views.
3. Let us eat‚ drink‚ and be merry‚ for tomorrow we die.
4. The solution to almost any human problem should be based on the situation at the time‚ not on some general moral rule.
5. Life is something to be enjoyed to the full‚ sensuously enjoyed with relish and enthusiasm.
6. Life is more a festival than a workshop or a school for moral discipline.
7. The past is no more‚ the future may never be‚ the present is all that we can be certain of.
8. Not to attain happiness‚ but to be worthy of it‚ is the purpose of our existence. (reverse scored)
9. No time is better spent than that devoted to thinking about the ultimate purposes of Life. (reverse scored)
10.Tenderness is more important than passion in love. (reverse scored)
Equalitarianism
1. Everyone should have an equal chance and an equal say.
2. There should be equality for everyone -- because we are all human beings.
3. A group of equals will work a lot better than a group with a rigid hierarchy.
4. Each one should get what he needs — the things we have belong to all of us.
5. No matter what the circumstances‚ one should never arbitrarily tell people what they have to do.
6. It is the duty of every good citizen to correct anti-minority remarks made in his presence.
7. Poverty could be almost entirely done away with if we made certain basic changes in our social and economic system.
8. There has been too much talk and not enough real action in doing away with racial discrimination.
9. In any group it is more important to keep a friendly atmosphere than to be efficient.
10.In a small group there should be no real leaders -- everyone should have an equal say.
Individualism
1. To be superior a man must stand alone.
2. In Life an Individual should for the most part “go it alone‚” assuring himself of privacy‚ having much time to himself‚ attempting to control his own Life.
3. It is the man who stands alone who excites our admiration.
4. The rich internal world of ideals‚ of sensitive feelings‚ of reverie‚ of self-knowledge‚ is man’s true home.
5. One must avoid dependence upon persons or things‚ the center of Life should be found with in oneself.
6. The most rewarding object of study any man can find is his own inner Life .
7. Whoever would be a man‚ must be a non-conformist.
8. Contemplation is the highest form of human activity.
9. The Individualist is the man who is most likely to discover the best road to a new future.
10.A man can learn better by striking out boldly on his own than he can by following the advice of others.
acceptance of authority‚ need determined expression vs. value-determined restraint‚ egalitarianism‚ and individualism
7 point scale‚ from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
This instrument can be found at: https://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/dis/infoserv/isrpub/pdf/Measuresofsocialpsychologicalattitudes_2928_.PDF
Bales‚ F.R. and Couch‚ A.S. (1969). The value profile: a factor analytic study of value statements. Sociological Inquiry‚ 39‚ 3-17.
Robinson‚ John P.‚ Shaver‚ Phillip R. (1969). Measures of Political Attitudes. Institute for Social Research‚ University of Michigan/. Ann Arbor‚ Michigan