Milton Rokeach’s 1973 work, The Nature of Human Values, established a foundational framework for studying human motivation by distinguishing between "terminal" end-state values and "instrumental" behavioral values. He introduced the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) to scientifically measure individual and societal value hierarchies, arguing these rankings dictate attitudes and can change through self-reflection.

In his seminal 1973 work, The Nature of Human Values , social psychologist Milton Rokeach

redefined the study of human motivation by shifting the focus from fleeting attitudes to enduring values

. He argued that while people hold thousands of attitudes, they possess only dozens of core values that serve as the foundational "guiding principles" for their lives. The Core Theory: Terminal vs. Instrumental

Rokeach’s primary contribution is the distinction between two independent yet interconnected sets of values that form the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS)

1. Bibliographic Reference

Rokeach, M. (1973). The Nature of Human Values. New York: Free Press.

Terminal Values (The "Ends")

These are the ultimate goals we want to achieve in our lifetime. They are the destinations. Rokeach identified 18 terminal values, including:

When someone says, "I want to find meaning," or "I want to be rich," they are expressing a terminal value.

Part 3: The Rokeach Value Survey (RVS)

The book’s empirical backbone is the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) , a simple yet devastatingly effective tool. It presents the 18 terminal values alphabetically and asks respondents to rank them "in order of importance to YOU, as guiding principles in YOUR life" (1 = most important, 18 = least important). Then, they do the same for the 18 instrumental values.

This is not a multiple-choice test. The ranking forces hard choices. You cannot say all values matter equally. In the real world of moral decision-making, we must sacrifice one value for another. The RVS measures the hierarchy of values—the order of priorities.

Rokeach spent nearly a decade administering this survey to thousands of Americans across different demographics. The book is a treasure trove of 1970s data, showing, for example, that:

The Rokeach Value Survey (RVS)

The legacy of this book is the Rokeach Value Survey, a test that asks participants to rank the 18 Terminal and 18 Instrumental values in order of importance to them.

This tool tells a story about the individual. For example:

4. The Rokeach Value Survey (RVS)

The book introduces and extensively validates the Rokeach Value Survey, a ranking instrument rather than a rating scale.

Rokeach emphasizes that ranking forces trade-offs, revealing true hierarchical priorities rather than socially desirable inflation.

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