According to Rokeach, human values are abstract concepts that represent an individual's preferences, beliefs, and attitudes about what is desirable or undesirable. Values are guiding principles that influence an individual's thoughts, feelings, and actions. They serve as criteria for evaluating people, events, and situations, and help individuals to make decisions about what is right or wrong, good or bad.
In his seminal 1973 work, social psychologist Milton Rokeach revolutionized the study of human behavior by positioning values as the central, guiding "source code" of the human personality. Published by Free Press, the book introduced the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) , a methodological tool that remains a cornerstone for measuring personal and social belief systems across psychology, sociology, and marketing. The Core Theory: Values vs. Attitudes rokeach m 1973 the nature of human values pdf