After reading “A Question of Values: Six Ways We Make the Personal Choices That Shape Our Lives”, I start to consider how human value be shown in real life. Press did not define the term of value because he said this is a “relatively recent one and is sometimes dismissed as a piece of barbarous jargon” (p.7). It is hard to just ask people what value is so the author gave six characteristic systems based on different attitude or way that people behave, which are authority, deductive logic, science, intuition, experience, and emotion. It is very interesting that Press discussed why people believe something, and I agree with him that there are mutable reasons can let a person believe something. For example, I don’t believe there exists one thing called UFO, at least not now. I keep seeing news says that some people saw UFO and even took a photo of it, but I still don’t believe them. However, one day my best friend told me that she saw a UFO once when she was very little, and she seriously pretty sure that was that. I start to kind believe there might have UFO because I trust my friend. Lots of examples like this can show that people’s belief or mind is very marvelous and hard to explain.
It is smart to put intangible idea into categories, and people will find one class that suitable them the most. Press also pointed out that people might not just belong to a single category, and it can be “cross-fertilized”. Although that six categories seems very professional and it makes they can categorize most individual, I think they are too general at some point. To be specific, male and female has different attitude about life, and the value of one person also might change along with he or she growing. People change and so do their value. Myself is a good example because I can feel my value and my thoughts are quite different compare to three years ago because of the study abroad experience, and I believe my parents’ value also change because of me.
In short, our values are the different not only just because of different life experiences, more importantly, we are totally different individuals, and each individual has independent way of viewing the world.
It is very interesting to find our reflections on the article are quite different. I myself thought that the author’s explanation of how values are formed is very convincing and related it to my personal experience. On the other side, you hold that the ways values are shown are quite mutable and hard to explain. I would love to open a discussion with you about the six mental modes to form values. You thought that it is a little general to some degree. But I think a lot of example you used to challenge Press’s opinion actually can be explained by the six modes. For example, men and women have different values are often because they sense things different and their emotion is different for same things. The change in personal experience, “science” and authority would contribute to the value change in a personal’s life. Just as you said that you felt your values changed a lot since you study abroad, this is how experience changed your value. When your value changed, your new value act like an authority to your parents’ value, thus their value changed as well.
I understand the point you are trying to make, and I also agree Press’s six models contains most of the values. However, what I am trying to say is that he could have made these six model more specific, such as adding more detailed classifications into Press’s six model. How males and females think in different ways and how an adult think differently compared to a child. Even though, their ways of thinking can all be classified under Press’s six models, I believe that it is more important and interesting to study their differences instead of similarities. Like I mentioned, my values has changed a lot over the past few years after I came to study abroad as well as my parents. I agree with you that these changes are cause by experiences. However, my mother something very different from what my father felt from this experience.On the one hand, my father believes that I have grown up and can take care of myself. On the other hand, my mother is worried about me because it is the first time I leave my family as well as out of the country. The point I am trying to make is, we should study why and how different gender and age group react to the same exact experience. Therefore, I say Press should make more detailed category for us to understand our values better.
I understand the point you are trying to make, and I also agree Press’s six models contains most of the values. However, what I am trying to say is that he could have made these six model more specific, such as adding more detailed classifications into Press’s six model. How males and females think in different ways and how an adult think differently compared to a child. Even though, their ways of thinking can all be classified under Press’s six models, I believe that it is more important and interesting to study their differences instead of similarities. Like I mentioned, my values has changed a lot over the past few years after I came to study abroad as well as my parents. I agree with you that these changes are cause by experiences. However, my mother something very different from what my father felt from this experience.On the one hand, my father believes that I have grown up and can take care of myself. On the other hand, my mother is worried about me because it is the first time I leave my family as well as out of the country. The point I am trying to make is, we should study why and how different gender and age group react to the same exact experience. Therefore, I say Press should make more detailed category for us to understand our values better.