VALUES, Mathew Kodappanamkunnel

Values can be defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes. As such, values reflect a person's sense of right and wrong or what "ought" to be. "Equal rights for all", "Excellence deserves admiration", and "People should be treated with respect and dignity" are representative of values.

Mainly there are two types of Values;

1.      Personal  Values

2.      Cultural Values

Personal Values provide an internal reference for what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, constructive, etc. Values generate behaviour and help to solve common human problems for survival by comparative rankings of value; the results of which provide answers to questions of why people do what they do and in what order they choose to do them. Over time the public expression of personal values, that groups of people find important in their day-to-day lives, lay the foundations of law, custom and tradition. Personal Values in this way exist in relation to cultural values, either in agreement with or divergent from prevailing norms. A culture is a social system that shares a set of common values, in which such values permit social expectations and collective understandings of the good, beautiful, constructive, etc. Without personal values there would be no cultural reference against which to measure the virtue of individual values.

Cultures have values that are largely shared by their members. The values of a society can often be identified by noting which people receive honor or respect. For example, Flying the national flag on a holiday is a norm, but it reflects the value of patriotism. Wearing dark clothing and appearing solemn are normal behaviors at a funeral. In certain cultures they reflect the values of respect and support of friends and family. Different cultures reflect different values. "Over the last three decades, traditional-age college students have shown an increased interest in personal well-being and a decreased interest in the welfare of others." Values seemed to have changed, affecting the beliefs, and attitudes of college students.

The interest towards value changes as  the generation changes. We can understand the people of certain culture by the values they hold.