The Ten Values
The Schwartz circumplex organizes ten basic values into a continuous motivational space. The values are not a ranked list — they are positions in a geometry where adjacent values share compatible motivational content and opposing values reflect conflicting motivational goals.
Understanding the circumplex means understanding two things: what each value represents as a motivational goal, and where it sits relative to the others. A person who highly prioritizes Self-Direction tends to also prioritize Stimulation (adjacent, compatible) and tends to score lower on Security (opposing, conflicting). These are tendencies, not rules — people act on competing values in different contexts — but the structure predicts patterns in how values cluster and conflict within individual profiles.
The ten values are organized into four higher-order clusters along two axes:
Openness to Change (Self-Direction, Stimulation, and partly Hedonism) emphasizes independence of thought and action, readiness for novelty, and departure from routine.
Conservation (Security, Conformity, Tradition) emphasizes order, self-restraint, preservation of established patterns, and resistance to change.
Self-Enhancement (Achievement, Power, and partly Hedonism) emphasizes pursuit of personal success, status, and relative superiority over others.
Self-Transcendence (Universalism, Benevolence) emphasizes concern for the welfare of others and the natural world, transcending narrow self-interest.
Hedonism sits at the boundary between Openness to Change and Self-Enhancement — it shares motivational content with both higher-order clusters and doesn't fit cleanly into either.
Openness to Change
Self-Direction — independent thought and action; choosing goals, exploring ideas, creating. The motivational core is autonomy — the freedom to determine one's own path without undue constraint from social expectations or others' preferences. Adjacent to Stimulation; opposing Security and Conformity.
Stimulation — excitement, novelty, and challenge. The motivational goal is a life that stays varied and engaging rather than settling into routine. Adjacent to Self-Direction and Hedonism; opposing Security.
Hedonism — pleasure, sensuous gratification, and enjoyment. Sits at the boundary between Openness to Change and Self-Enhancement. Adjacent to Stimulation and Achievement; structurally ambiguous in opposition, most commonly opposing Conformity and Tradition.
Self-Enhancement
Achievement — personal success demonstrated through competence according to social standards. The emphasis is on demonstrated competence that earns social recognition, distinguishing it from mere self-efficacy. Adjacent to Power and Hedonism; opposing Universalism and Benevolence.
Power — social status, prestige, and control over people and resources. The motivational goal is dominance or superior social position. Adjacent to Achievement; opposing Universalism and Benevolence.
Conservation
Security — safety, harmony, and stability of society, relationships, and self. Security serves both individual and collective interests — personal safety and social order are both included. Adjacent to Conformity and Tradition; opposing Stimulation and Self-Direction.
Conformity — restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset others or violate social expectations. The motivational emphasis is on self-restriction in the service of smooth social functioning. Adjacent to Security and Tradition; opposing Self-Direction and Stimulation.
Tradition — respect for and acceptance of the customs, ideas, and practices transmitted through cultural, religious, or family heritage. Adjacent to Conformity; opposing Self-Direction and Stimulation. Tradition sits at the outer edge of the circumplex, meaning it tends to conflict more strongly with opposing values than Conformity does despite sharing the same motivational neighborhood.
Self-Transcendence
Benevolence — caring for and promoting the welfare of people in one's immediate social circle: family, friends, community. The in-group scope of Benevolence distinguishes it from Universalism. Adjacent to Universalism and Conformity; opposing Power and Achievement.
Universalism — understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for the natural world. The broadest scope of any value in the circumplex — care extends beyond the in-group to all humanity and nature. Adjacent to Benevolence; opposing Power and Achievement.
Reading Your Results
Your result page shows priority scores across all ten values and your position on the two higher-order axes. A few things worth knowing when reading the scores:
Relative position matters more than absolute scores. The scoring model centers each person's scores around their own mean, which means the scores are comparative within your profile — they show which values are relatively more or less important to you — not how you compare to any external standard.
Adjacent values often cluster. If you score high on Universalism, you are likely to also score relatively high on Benevolence — they are motivationally compatible. If you see a profile where adjacent values diverge significantly, that's worth examining.
Opposing values in conflict. If you score high on both a value and its circumplex opposite — say, high Achievement and high Benevolence, or high Self-Direction and high Security — you have a value tension that is structurally unusual. This does not mean your scores are wrong; people do hold conflicting value priorities. But it is a place to look: how do you navigate that tension in practice?
For background on the theory and its cross-cultural evidence, see the Schwartz Values pillar page.