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 strives toward fulfillment through work and other life roles, such as parenting. Most scales have been normalized and can therefore be used cross-culturally for
vocational,
marketing, and
counseling purposes, yielding unbiased results. Values scales are used by
psychologists,
political scientists,
economists, and others interested in defining values, determining what people value, and evaluating the ultimate function or purpose of values.