Money and Power Drop In Popularity - Queendom.com's Study Reveals The Rising Importance of Social Values
Montreal, Canada (PRWEB) September 11, 2013 -- With recent debates about whether Facebook should come with a warning label due to its addictive nature and exacerbation of asocial behavior, it’s difficult to believe that social values matter anymore. In fact, Nielsen’s consumer report reveals that on average, people spend 6.5 hours on social media sites. Does this mean that actual face-time with friends and family has become unimportant? Not so, according to a study by Queendom.com. Social values are still important – in fact, they are a lot more significant than people would expect.
When a person sees more value in the beauty of nature than in a nice, juicy paycheck, there are two possible conclusions most people would come to: the person is either a tree-hugging fruitcake, or he/she has reached an important level of personal growth and maturity. In which case, we are all a little nutty – or self-actualized, depending on one’s point of view.
Based on data collected by Queendom.com, the value of money and power on a personal level is only moderate at best, and has actually taken a backseat to social values.
This revelation comes on the tail end of another study on career motivation conducted by the online testing guru, which also showed a drop in the desire for money and power. Much like the decreasing impact of financial compensation as a motivator, Queendom’s analysis of 2,163 people who took the Values Profile indicates that money and even power are becoming less important.
The researchers at Queendom.com assessed 6 categories of values: Social, Aesthetic, Theoretical, Traditional, Realistic, and Political, broken down into 34 different facets. The top five values, according to Queendom’s data, include the following (on a scale from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating greater importance):
• Empathy (score of 78): Importance of understanding others by seeing the world through their eyes. Putting oneself into other people’s “shoes” in order to grasp and appreciate their feelings and opinions.
• Family and Friends (score of 74): Importance of relationships with loved ones. Desire to devote a great deal of time and attention to the important people in one’s life.
• Appreciation of Beauty (score of 73): Importance of seeing and appreciating the beauty in one’s surroundings – and an understanding that beauty comes in many forms.
• Hard work/Diligence (score of 73): Importance of being productive and putting the effort and dedication into accomplishing something great.
• Altruism (score of 72): Importance of helping others. The desire to make the world a better place.
Out of 34 values, Financial Security came in 24th place overall (score of 54) and Power in 29th (score of 51). In addition, while Religion/Spirituality only ranked 31st on the list of values, the Ethics/Morals value was considered important, placing 10th with a score of 67.
“The decrease in importance of money is notable,” points out Dr. Jerabek, president of the company. “One would think that the personal value of money would vary depending on whether a person is financially well-off or not, but this wasn’t the case at all. In fact, when we compared the value scores of people with upper and lower socio-economic status, their results on the Financial Security value was exactly the same, with a score 54 – indicating that this value is only of moderate importance in people’s lives, regardless of their income tax bracket. In fact, there was very little difference in scores as it relates to socio-economic status. Both groups placed high importance on social values. These are noteworthy results – and refreshing too.”
“Social media does have several disadvantages, summarizes Dr. Jerabek. “No matter where you go, you’ll likely see people with their heads down, glued to their phones. If you walk into a restaurant, you’ll see couples who are supposed to be on a date or parents and children having a ‘family’ meal, where at least one member of the party will be engaged with their phone rather than actual conversation. Social media does, however, allow people to cross barriers of distance more than ever before. That doesn’t mean it should replace one-on-one contact – only enhance it.”
“Granted, relationships with most Facebook or Twitter friends are superficial at best, and may simply create an illusion of being part of a social circle; it may mask the need for a real connection. But there is no denying that the need is still there, and it’s running strong. Perhaps part of what’s behind this obsession with social media is a subconscious desire to re-connect with humanity, to get this sense of belonging,” suggests Dr. Jerabek “That may sound rather idealistic, but so does the belief that people value the beauty of nature more than money – and this recent study just proved it.”
Additional interesting tidbits from Queendom’s study:
GENDER
• Women in general had stronger social values, particularly Family & Friends (score of 79 vs. 68 for men), Altruism (77 vs. 65), Socializing (71 vs. 61), and Empathy (81 vs. 71).
• Men placed a higher value on Scientific Exploration – the importance of discovering new technologies, inventions, etc. (59 vs. 50 for women).
• Women placed a higher value on developing a career than men did (61 vs. 56).
AGE
• In terms of social values, younger age groups valued Family & Friends (77 vs. 71) and Socializing (71 vs. 62), while older age groups valued Altruism (76 vs. 72) and Empathy (81 vs. 76).
• In terms of aesthetics, younger age groups valued creativity and the ability to express themselves creatively (57 vs. 48).
• Younger age groups had stronger political values, particularly in terms of Competitiveness (50 vs. 31), Recognition (50 vs. 31), and developing a sense of Pride (50 vs. 31).
JOB SATISFACTION
Those who are happy with their job outscored their less satisfied counterparts on every value assessed, including:
• Intellectual Creativity (Aesthetic value) – score of 62 vs. 55
• Knowledge (Theoretical value) – score of 66 vs. 59
• Ethics/Morals (Traditional value) – score of 71 vs. 65
• Hard work/Diligence (Realistic value) – score of 78 vs. 70
• Career Life (Political value) – score of 63 vs. 54
• Power (Political value) – score of 53 vs. 46
• Recognition (Political value) – score of 50 vs. 42
• Pride (Political value) – score of 54 vs. 47
Those who wish to take the Value Profile can go to:
http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=3318
About Queendom.com
Queendom.com is a subsidiary of PsychTests AIM Inc. Queendom.com is a site that creates an interactive venue for self-exploration with a healthy dose of fun. The site offers a full range of professional-quality, scientifically-validated psychological assessments that empower people to grow and reach their real potential through insightful feedback and detailed, custom-tailored analysis.
About PsychTests AIM Inc.:
PsychTests AIM Inc. originally appeared on the internet scene in 1996. Since its inception, it has become a pre-eminent provider of psychological assessment products and services to human resource personnel, therapists, academics, researchers and a host of other professionals around the world. PsychTests AIM Inc. staff is comprised of a dedicated team of psychologists, test developers, researchers, statisticians, writers, and artificial intelligence experts (see ARCHProfile.com). The company’s research division, Plumeus Inc., is supported in part by Research and Development Tax Credit awarded by Industry Canada.
Ilona Jerabek, PhD, PsychTests AIM Inc., http://testyourself.psychtests.com/, 514-745-3189 112, [email protected]
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