What is a hierarchy of values, and how do you create one?

Let's look at what a hierarchy of values is and how we can develop one and apply it to life.

Each person has his or her own way of seeing and interpreting the world, a unique vision that has been nurtured by his or her experiences, personality traits and teachings from his or her family.

This makes each one of us value in one way or another the different aspects that make up our life, such as family, money, religion, culture, work or any other aspect that comes to mind.

The hierarchy of values is this mental structure in which we organize that which we consider most valuable and significant in our lives from that which is not so valuable and significant. from what is not so valuable, and also what we consider to be right and what is wrong. Let's take a closer look.

What is a hierarchy of values?

We can define the hierarchy of values as that structure in which we place the beliefs and attitudes that determine our behavior, assigning to each of them a certain importance. structure in which we place the beliefs and attitudes that determine our behavior, assigning each of them a certain importance.. The values that make up such a hierarchy are not stable over time, since, depending on our experience, changes of opinion and social influences, we value one thing or another differently throughout our lives.

Values are different from individual to individual and very variable depending on our social, occupational, cultural and religious environment.. Each person has a range of values that he considers superior and inferior, establishing his own concept of what is moral, philosophical, aesthetic and ethical in his life. For example, there are those who consider family and everything related to it to be of high value, while for others it is money and leisure that acquire great weight in their lives.

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Component elements of the hierarchy of values

Generally, the hierarchy of values is faithful to the representation of what the individual considers necessary to lead a happy and well being life..

This mental structure is shaped throughout the life of each individual based on his experiences and mixed with his personality and values acquired from peers, which usually delimit what is right and what is wrong within a society. There are three fundamental elements that determine this structure.

1. Individual perceptions

The individual's perceptions and interpretations of the world in which he or she lives will determine his or her values.. In turn, the establishment of such values will respond to the needs, interests, aspirations, training and personal conditions of the person who welcomes them.

2. Qualities of the value

The second aspect that determines the structure of the hierarchy of values has to do with the qualities of the value.This is closely related to the personal preference of each individual but also to how it is interpreted as positive or negative from a social perspective.

3. Situation of the individual

The third aspect has to do with the momentary situation in which the individual lives.. This is the most unstable element, since we all go through different situations throughout life that can make us change our mind and value differently an aspect that, in the past, was highly valued.

Characteristics of values

We can highlight different characteristics of the values taking into account the three aspects just mentioned:

• Values have two poles, one positive and one negative (good vs. bad).
• They manifest themselves in the form of a rank, from worse/bad to better/good.
• The hierarchy in which they are organized will depend on social, moral and ethical aspects.
• They are flexible, being able to change over time according to the experiences and needs of individuals.
• They differ in terms of durability. There are values more durable than others.

Max Scheler's hierarchy of values

Values have been the subject of study since ancient times. Already in Classical Greece, philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle were already proposing treatises on ethics, morality, beauty and aesthetics, trying to organize which were the most important values for the life of man.

As the centuries passed, the philosophy of David Hume, a Scottish philosopher who studied ethics and was concerned with the way in which moral judgments were made, appeared. It is these moral judgments that play a key role in establishing what is good and what is evil, ideas that determine both what is good and what is evil.These ideas determine both what we understand as socially accepted values and the hierarchy we establish with them.

One of the key figures when talking about the hierarchy of values is the German philosopher Max Scheler. This thinker is known for his studies of axiology, a branch of philosophy that studies values, their nature and essence. Scheler's great contribution is to have proposed a hierarchy of values, establishing a very well organized structure of the levels that he considered to form the hierarchy of values. of the levels that he considered that conformed the priority and importance that people give to different values according to social thought.

Max Scheler's proposed hierarchy of values, starting from the lowest to the highest level of importance, is as follows:

1. Pleasurable values

Also known as hedonistic values, the values of pleasantness correspond to the affective states through which we feel and seek pleasure, and feel and seek pleasure. the affective states through which we feel and seek pleasure, and feel and avoid pain..... They are those that are directly related to what we understand as pleasant and unpleasant.

2. Vital values

Vital values refer to the life of the body, that is, those that are related to health, illness, physiological needs and instinct.. Their pursuit is done to achieve Biological well-being, while their deprivation entails discomfort and health problems.

3. Spiritual values

Spiritual values are those which, according to Scheler's model, are grasped through our spirit and do not involve the corporeal.. Here we would find the aesthetic, legal, intellectual and pure knowledge values.

4. Religious values

Finally, in the hierarchy proposed by Max Scheler, we have the religious values, which would have the highest degree of importance. They are composed of the sacred and he defined it by differentiating between the holy and the profane..

Examples of types of values

Although Max Scheler's model is interesting and serves to give some shape to what can be understood as a hierarchy of values, the fact is that everyone can establish his own. What is understood by a value is very subjective and the importance that we give to it is even more so, therefore, to make a model in which the levels of this type of hierarchy are specified is really complicated.

However, as an example and as a guideline for those who want to embark on the adventure of writing their own hierarchy of values, assessing what they consider most important in their lives and what is not so important, here are 6 types of values to take into consideration.

1. Social values

Social values include the importance we give to people who are part of our social environment, whether family, friends or society itself.. They have a lot to do with pro-social behaviors, adaptation to the culture of birth or host culture.

2. Religious values

Religious values are established by each doctrine, denomination or religious sect.. They can be values associated to a very well delimited religion or, also, more alternative beliefs, of pagan or sectarian cut.

3. Moral values

Moral values are those that derive from their relationship with society and are useful when making decisions, being subject to the ethical.being subject to ethics.

4. Biological or physiological values

Biological or physiological values are those that arise from the basic needs of the human being, having to do with food, health, health, and the environment.They are related to food, health, the need for protection and maintenance of physical and psychological integrity, among others.

5. Economic values

Economic values are directly related to wealth. They are those with which material needs are satisfied, commercial, goods...

6. Aesthetic values

Aesthetic values are those that focus on beauty as the object of interestseeking balance, functionality and also visual impact.

Example of hierarchy of values

Taking into consideration the 6 examples we have just seen, here is an example of a hierarchy of values ordered from most important to least important.

• Family and friends (social)
• Faith and religion (religious)
• Solidarity, cooperation and doing good (moral)
• Sex, food and health (physiological)
• Beauty, art and culture (aesthetic)
• Work, material goods and savings (economic)

The importance of the hierarchy of values

One's hierarchy of values is valuable because it is a structure composed of our convictions that determines many aspects of our behavior. It orients and guides our actions and motivates us towards the achievement of different goals or behave in a way that we consider to be correct based on our own values.

This hierarchy of values is unique to each individual, but it is also shaped socially. That is to say, the combination of the values of each individual within a society form a common hierarchy of values, composed of those values that are socially desirable and that, those who do not share them or move away from them, can be marginalized or seen as people who do not abide by what the majority supports.

At the individual level, the most important values are those that shape our identity, those that determine our particular way of thinking and acting.those that determine our particular way of expressing ourselves and living.

The clearer and higher they are in the hierarchy of values, the more they serve to guide our behavior and give a certain meaning to our life, guiding us to carry out a certain purpose or to have a future and vital perspective.