Multimethod Probes of Basic Human Values: Social Psychology and Cultural Context

A major theme running through the work of Harry Triandis is an emphasis on the importance of “multimethod probes” of our central constructs, especially in cross-cultural work (e.g., Triandis, 1994; Triandis, McCusker, & Hui, 1990). Triandis draws approvingly on Campbell (1986) and Fiske (1986), who argue that findings from single methods often fail to replicate and that multiple methods, including both “hard” and “soft” approaches, should be coordinated. In this spirit, this chapter reports research in the domain of basic human values (Schwartz, 1992, 1994a). We address two questions: (a) Can the key postulates of the theory of individual values, validated thus far with a single instrument, be validated with a new, alternative instrument? (b) Is the distinct content of 10 motivational types of human values specified by the theory also expressed in spontaneous self-construals?