Discover Values: Smashing Stereotypes?

Are we more united than divided?

Our exhibit will showcase research showing that people struggle to perceive these differences accurately. The issue boils down to difficulty in identifying our own values and those of others.  Our stereotypes can lead us wildly off-piste.

The problem starts with our values. Values are abstract ideals that people consider to be important guiding principles in their lives.  Examples include equality, security, or freedom.

Values guide our attitudes and our behaviour, and we infer our values from our attitudes and behaviours. The guidance and inference processes are not perfect.  For diverse reasons, we often make mistakes in estimating our own values and those of other people.

Our stereotypes of ourselves and others can interfere with accuracy.  We often assume that people differ in their value priorities. We might stereotypically assume, for instance, that older people find tradition or safety more important and that younger people find freedom and curiosity more important. We might assume that women value compassion and helpfulness, whereas men value wealth and power.

We have collected data that enables us to make some surprising discoveries about people’s values and the differences between people.  Our stereotypes can be mostly accurate in some cases and wrong in others.

We look forward to seeing you back here soon to find out more about our Royal Society Summer Science Exhibit. In the meantime you can read more about our research on political psychology in the Department of Psychology and in Social Cultural Cognition at the University of Bath.