Shalom H. Schwartz is social psychologist, cross-cultural researcher, author of Theory of basic human values (universal values as latent motivations and needs). He also contributed to the formulation of Values Scales

Values scales

Values scales are psychological inventories used to determine the values that people endorse in their lives. They facilitate the understanding of both work and general values that individuals uphold. In addition, they assess the importance of each value in people’s lives and how the individual...

 in the context of social learning theory and social cognitive theory.

Short biography

After completing his master's degree in social psychology and group development at Columbia University and completing his rabbinical studies, Schwartz received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of ‎‎Michigan-Ann Arbor, and subsequently taught in the sociology department of the University ‎‎of Wisconsin-Madison, and in 1973 became a professor. From 1971-73, Schwartz was a visiting lecturer in the department of psychology at the Hebrew University.
In 1979, when many of Israel's leading researchers were going to work at universities in the United States, Schwartz made aliyah

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

 (moved to Israel) with his wife and three children. He joined the department of psychology at the Hebrew University, where he holds the post of Leon and Clara Sznajderman Professor Emeritus of Psychology. He's retired, but continues his research activity, as well as developing and promoting his Basic Human Values Theory.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Schwartz was one of the pioneers in the research on pro-social and altruistic behavior. His research has since included studies on the development and consequences of a diverse range of behavioral attitudes and orientations, such as religious belief

Religious belief

Religious belief is a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny. Such a state may relate to the existence, characteristics and worship of a deity or deities, divine intervention in the universe and human life, or values and practices centered on the teachings of a...

, political orientation and voting

Voting

Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. It is often found in democracies and republics.- Reasons for voting :...

, social group relations, consumer behavior, as well as the conceptualization of human values across cultures.

Schwartz is a fellow of the American Psychological Foundation and is a member of the American Sociological Foundation, European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, Israel Psychological Association, Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He is president of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. He coordinates an ‎international project in more than 70 countries that studies the antecedents and consequences of ‎‎individual differences in value priorities and the relations of cultural dimensions of values to societal characteristics and policies. His value theory and instruments are part of the ongoing, biannual European Social Survey

European social survey

The European Social Survey is a social scientific endeavour to map the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of the various populations in Europe.-History:The ESS was initiated by the European Science Foundation...

.

Main publications

• Schwartz, S. H. and Bilsky, W. (1990). Toward a theory of the universal content and structure of values: Extensions and cross cultural replications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
  The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology is a monthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. It is considered one of the top journals in the fields of social and personality psychology. Its focus is on empirical research reports; however, specialized theoretical,...
  
  , 58, 878-891.
• Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theory and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25) (pp. 1–65). New York: Academic Press.
• Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the content and structure of values? Journal of Social Issues, 50, 19-45.
• Schwartz, S. H. (1996). Value priorities and behavior: Applying of theory of integrated value systems. In C. Seligman, J. M. Olson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), The Psychology of Values: The Ontario Symposium, Vol. 8 (pp. 1–24). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Schwartz, S. H. and Bardi, A. (1997), ‘Influences of adaptation to communist rule on value priorities in Eastern Europe’, Political Psychology, 18, pp. 385–410.
• Schwartz, S. H., Lehmann, A., and Roccas, S. (1999), ‘Multimethod probes of basic human values’, in: J. Adamopoulos and Y. Kashima, (eds.), Social Psychology and Culture Context: Essays in Honor of Harry C. Triandis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Schwartz, S. H. and Bardi, A. (2000). Moral dialogue across cultures: An empirical perspective. In E. W. Lehman (Ed.), Autonomy and order: A communitarian anthology. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Schwartz, S. H., Melech, G., Lehmann, A., Burgess, S., and Harris, M. (2001), ‘Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement’, Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 32, pp. 519–542.
• Schwartz, S. H. A proposal for measuring value orientations across nations in ESS http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=126&Itemid=80
• Schwartz, S. H. and Boehnke, K. (2004), ‘Evaluating the structure of human values with confirmatory factor analysis’, Journal of Research in Personality, 38, pp. 230–255.
• Schwartz, S. H., and Rubel, T. (2005), Sex differences in value priorities: Cross-cultural and multi-method studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
  The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology is a monthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. It is considered one of the top journals in the fields of social and personality psychology. Its focus is on empirical research reports; however, specialized theoretical,...
  
  , 89, pp. 1010–1028.
• Schwartz, S. H. (2006). Value orientations: Measurement, antecedents and consequences across nations. In R. Jowell, C. Roberts, R. Fitzgerald, & G. Eva (Eds.), Measuring attitudes cross-nationally - lessons from the European Social Survey. London: Sage.

See also

• List of Israel Prize recipients