Instrumental and end values

Values are one’s judgment of what is important in life. One way of considering values is in terms of instrumental and end values. Instrumental values are beliefs about the type of behavior appropriate for reaching certain goals. End values or sometimes called terminal values, are beliefs about the kind of goals or outcomes that are worth trying to pursue. This paper will evidently describe the primary concepts of each value while examining my personal list and rankings of five instrumental and end values most important to me.

End vales can be categorized by two different aspects, personal and social. My end vales consist of equality, an exciting life, self-respect, a sense of accomplishment, and wisdom. The end values most important to me lean towards a more personal aspect, even though equality is considered a social end value according to Rokeach. Making necessary life decisions consider these five end values. Equality is definitely one of most important values in my life.

Equality among friends and family has always been one of the major values in my life. An exciting life is necessary for one’s happiness and happiness leads to a positive aura surrounding an individual. Self-respect, a sense of accomplishment and wisdom are three aspects that are tied together. An individual needs to have self-respect and a sense of accomplishment to acquire wisdom.

Instrumental values, according to Rokeach, fall in two categories as well; morality and competence. The means people use to achieve their goals might violate moral values like honesty, or violate one’s personal sense of competence and capability like become illogical.

My five instrumental values include ambition, cleanliness, forgiveness, responsibility, and self- control. The instrumental values most important to me focuses more on competence than morality. These instrumental goals are key aspects that focus on pursuing one’s life goals. Honesty is the best policy. Honesty is one of the most important aspects in pursuing one’s goals in life. Ambition is also one of many important values in a goal oriented person. Ambition is required for one to achieve goals and be successful. Cleanliness and responsibility are at an equal level of importance in my life. Cleanliness is associated with responsibility in numerous ways. One has to be responsible to keep oneself and one’s surroundings clean which leads to a happy lifestyle. Forgiveness and self-control are two keen values to one’s life as well. Self-control is very important to succeed in life.

However, every individual has both instrumental and end values, every person differs in how they order the values into priorities, which accounts for tremendous variation among people. Comprehending one’s own values clarifies what is important, which is essential for effective leadership. Leaders can identify and comprehend value differences to improve communication and effectiveness.

Instrumental and end values are both essential in achieving goals and having a successful life whether it is a personal end value and social end value or morality instrumental value and competence instrumental value. This paper described and listed five instrumental and end value and their importance in one’s life. Values are fundamental beliefs that an individual considers to be important that have an impact on attitudes and behavior.