For most purposes, it is necessary to correct for individual differences in response scale. Eleven items are not
included in indices intended for cross-cultural comparison, because they have not demonstrated
acceptable equivalence of meaning across cultures.
From Schwartz (1992, Appendix) , as updated in Schwartz (1994) .
Reproduced with permission.
Schwartz Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ)
(Schwartz et al., 2001 ).
Variable
The PVQ measures the same 10 basic values as the SVS (Power, Achievement, Hedonism, Stimulation, Self-
Direction, Universalism, Benevolence, Tradition, Conformity, and Security). The PVQ was developed as an alter-
native to the SVS for use in younger samples, and in samples not familiar with the abstract thinking required to
evaluate the specific SVS value items. The PVQ is presumed to generate the same circumplex relationship among
these 10 motivational types of value as the SVS. Davidov, Schmidt, and Schwartz (2008) reported multidimen-
sional scaling results indicating that all PVQ value items have demonstrated ‘near-equivalence of meaning’ across
various cultures.
Description
Rather than indicating perceived importance of value terms as on the SVS, the PVQ instructs respondents to
rate their similarity to each of 40 brief verbal portraits of hypothetical people. Each portrait describes a person of
the same sex as the respondent, whose goals and aspirations correspond to one of the 10 basic motivational types
of values; that is, the rating task focuses on another person, without specifically mentioning the underlying value.
No value items from the SVS were used in these portraits. Respondents are instructed to indicate, ‘How much
like you is this person?’ on a 6-point scale. Respondents are to compare the portrait description with oneself,
rather than comparing oneself with the portrait, on the presumption that comparing another with oneself directs
the respondent’s attention only to value-relevant attributes of the other portrayed in the portrait. The PVQ con-
tains from three (Stimulation, Hedonism, Power) to six (Universalism) portraits for each motivational type of
value. The respondent’s importance score for each value is the average rating across all portraits for a given moti-
vational value.
In addition to 20- and 29-portrait versions of the PVQ, Schwartz (2003) constructed a 21-portrait version of the
PVQ for the European Social Survey (ESS), a biennial, cross-national survey designed to measure stability and
change in attitudes, beliefs, and patterns of behavior across Europe (for ESS PVQ items, see Schwartz, 2006; see
Davidov et al., 2008; and Bilsky, Janik, & Schwartz, 2011 , for cross-national validity studies).
Schwartz’s goal with the SVS and the PVQ is to measure respondents’ value priorities, reflecting the relative
importance rather than the absolute levels of particular values. Thus, an average rating of ‘4’ on Power has differ-
ent meanings for respondents who rate other values at the same, lower, or higher levels. Note the similarity of
this approach to Allport’s idiographic approach in his Study of Values . Absolute values’ response ratings are con-
verted into ‘relative importance scores’ by subtracting each respondent’s mean response across all value items
from the response to each individual item ( Schwartz, 2012 ).
Sample
Lindeman and Verkasalo (2005, Study 1) employed a sample of 670 Finnish respondents (72.3% women; Mean
age519.76 years, SD55.23; 392 senior high school and 278 university students) for their comparative study of a
short version of the SVS, the PVQ, and the SVS. In a second study ( N53261), they ‘replicated the quasi-circular
structure in a more heterogeneous sample’ (Lindeman & Verkasalo, p. 170). Smaller samples of 112 and 38 parti-
cipants were employed to check further on the psychometric properties of the various Schwartz measures. In a
separate study, Caprara, Schwartz, Capanna, Vecchione, and Barbaranelli (2006) used a sample of 3044 Italian
voters in assessing the predictive validity of personality and values (measured via the PVQ) on voting behaviors.518 18. MEASURES OF VALUES AND MORAL PERSONALITY
V. VICES AND VIRTUES