Functional Theory of Values: Testing hypothesis of content and structure in a Brazilian State

Abstract

The Functional Theory of Values (TFVH) understands values as general guiding principles, transcending specific objects or situations. The objective was to test the hypothesis of the content and structure of TFVH. There were 634 university students (Mage=22.6), the majority female (51.3%). The hypothesis was tested with confirmatory factor analysis (e.g., IFC=0.97, TLI=0.96, and RMSEA=0.04). The hypothesis of the structure was also tested with confirmatory multidimensional scaling (Proxscal), indicating that values can be represented in a 3 X 2 space where the 3 refers to the type of orientation - personal, central and social - and the 2, the type of motivator - materialistic and idealistic. We concluded that the TFVH gathered evidence of its suitability in the studied scope and can be used to understand human values and their correlates.

Keywords
Social values; functions; structure; content; Pernambuco