Unit 2
Unit 2 Goals:
- Become familiar with the basic relationship of human values to psychological and philosophical endeavors.
- Understand that values are formed from external and internal drives of an individual.
- Explore one’s own value system.
Top Personal Values:
- Prayer
- Family
- Friendship
- Work Ethic
- Humor
In my original post (linked above) I stated that I felt like there is a difference between values and beliefs. In my opinion values are learned and beliefs are innate but there is a big intersection between the two. After “ranking” my top five personal values I think that this exemplifies what I said originally. I can see the intersection of values and beliefs in family because you can’t choose your family but there is definitely a learning component when it comes to them. Values are a sensitive subject for most people because they are so personal and I believe that they are so personal because they are the things that we put the most time and effort into. These are the things that we practice and we study outside of school – like study for fun – which is crazy and must mean we find enjoyment in them.
Reflection
Writing out your top five personal values and essentially ranking them gives you a lot of perspective. Going forward I feel like I will pay more attention to how my larger list of values grows and changes. A big part of what we values most in our lives is based on whether we have it or not, this is a little ambiguous but there’s a saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” and I think that you can apply this is your values as well. Now that I have defined values and beliefs for myself I think this will help me categorize things a little different from now on and have a better appreciation for other peoples values.
Looking back on this assignment I can tell that I pay a lot more attention to and am more aware of the values that my core group of friends have. One of the interesting things has been comparing values that my friends who I have grown up with have compared with some of my newer friends. When you grow up with someone you know their family and their lifestyle a little better, you’ve seen how their parents influenced them and what they took away from how they grew up. It would be fascinating to have family members write down their values and then compare them as a group to see how they all influence each other.