Prompt for Cultural Values Paper
Below are the 32 Cultural Values Survey questions you encountered earlier in the quarter. I’d like to improve those questions, and perhaps cut them down to about a dozen questions, at most two dozen.
Your task is to issue recommendations and spell out how you arrived at them:
1) For each question, categorize the four responses: liberty-anarchy, equality-solidarity, authority-hierarchy, utility-rivalry. If you have a problem categorizing a given set of four responses, explain why and suggest alternatives.
2) Prioritize the questions: which would you say are better at eliciting students’ cultural types, which are worse? You say so based on what: introspection or interviews?
3) Pay special attention to the two questions on nature. Come up with one question and four responses.
CULTURAL VALUES SURVEY Political Science class.
Here are four kinds of groupwork on a paper:
Cooperation
• The group members agree to contribute in equal shares to the production of the joint paper.
• Each group member gets the same grade.
Collaboration
• Each group member is free to choose whichever share of the work they prefer to do, based on their personal interests and skills.
• The grade of each group member depends on the amount and the quality of the work they put into the paper.
Coordination
• Each group member is assigned a role in the production of the paper: the taskmaster, who distributes the tasks; the timekeeper, who is responsible for making sure everybody completes their task on time; and the production manager, who pulls together the final product and submits it.
• Each group member’s grade is determined in advance based on the complexity of the task they were allocated.
Competition
• Each group member writes a paper, the group employs simple majority rule to select the best paper, and the author of that paper submits it on behalf of the group.
• The author receives an additional two points at the expense of the other two group members, who each get one point less.
Which kind of groupwork appeals to you the most?
cooperation
collaboration
coordination
competition
Which life goal is the most important to you?
enjoy life
excel in life
save the world
run the world
Which principle of social organization appeals to you the most?
hierarchy
anarchy
rivalry
solidarity
Which statement about human nature do you agree with the most?
People are born greedy, but competition can harness greed for the greater good.
People are born free; individual by individual, they are wildly diverse and fundamentally unpredictable.
People are born beasts, and they become civilized through the efforts of family, church, and school.
People are born good, and they will naturally do good unless they are corrupted by bad environments or bad institutions.
Which of these forces would you rely upon on the most?
benevolent state
invisible hand of the free market
wisdom of crowds
heroic individual
Which function of religion appeals to you the most?
feeling at one with humankind
caring for the tired, the poor, and the wretched
enabling a rich community life
going with the flow of a ritual
Which value appeals to you the most?
efficiency
security
equality
liberty
What is your concept of time?
compressed (now is the most important moment in all of history)
short-term (live for the day)
long-term (overlapping generations of ancestors and children’s children)
same old same old (nothing ever changes, time drifts along)
Which definition of risk do you agree with the most?
Risk is opportunity. Gain from it!
Risk needs to be minimized. Avoid it!
Risk can be managed. Control it!
Risk is endemic. Live with it!
Which value do you identify with the most?
law and order
social justice
self-fulfillment
self-achievement
Which of these principles for improving organizational performance would you rely upon first and foremost?
hire and fire
incentivize and reward
educate and train
love and share
Which of these mottos do you agree with the most?
The devil takes the hindmost.
Nobody wins until everybody wins.
Work hard, play hard.
Learn to use the tools our ancestors have found indispensable.
Which form of leadership appeals to you the most?
bold (leading from the front)
charismatic (leading by virtuous example)
procedural (radiating respect for the rules of the game or the rule of law)
casual (appearing not to lead)
If you were serving on the admissions committee of an elite university, in which direction would you nudge the admissions process?
offer affordable access to all who meet the minimum requirements
select students randomly from among those who meet the minimum requirements
offer equal opportunity, then select the best
give preferential access to disadvantaged minorities
How would you describe nature, for the most part?
robust
fragile
capricious
conquerable
Where would you say people go bad, for the most part?
greedy (internal motivation)
amoral
corruptible (external situation)
sinful
Which idea of justice appeals to you the most?
equality of opportunity
equality of outcome
noblesse oblige (those at the top are obliged to help those at the bottom)
compensatory justice (if you get hurt, you have a right to get compensated, and if you hurt somebody, you have an obligation to compensate them)
Which success factor would you say is the most important?
innate ability and good luck
strong guidance from parents, pastors, and teachers
self-discipline and hard work
supportive network of friends and colleagues
Which form of social organization appeals to you the most?
direct democracy
social network
traditional family
free market
Which type do you identify with the most?
prophet (values-driven, moralistic, single-minded focus, willing to fight for what they believe in)
nomad (ratty, tough, unwanted, diverse, adventurous, cynical about institutions)
hero (conventional, powerful, institutionally driven, profound trust in authority)
artist (subtle, indecisive, emotional, compromising, often torn by internal conflict or dealing with feelings of repression)
What are you seeking in life, for the most part?
wealth
power
fame
love
What do you bring to the table in a group project, first and foremost?
excellence
creativity
civility
fair play
In a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), which player identity would you choose to take on?
socializer (communal, “hang out with the gang”)
explorer (curious, “discover hidden truths”)
achiever (ambitious, “collect badges of accomplishment”)
killer (competitive, “join the army, travel to exotic lands, meet interesting people, and kill them”)
Which of these principles do you agree with the most?
stick to family, hold on to your friends
you don’t have to live this way; walk away, do something else
work hard, play hard
learn to use the tools our ancestors found indispensable
What is your concept of history?
random (history is just one damn thing after another)
cyclical (civilizations rise and fall)
linear (there is such a thing as progress in human affairs)
singular (it’s the end of history, all bets are off)
Which of these labels best characterizes you?
egoist (material goods)
altruist (material goods)
relativist (moral values)
absolutist (moral values)
If you were serving on the admissions committee of an elite university, in which direction would you nudge the admissions process?
individual diversity
individual excellence
equal opportunity
institutional excellence
How would you describe nature?
benign
ephemeral
capricious
perverse-tolerant
Which type of democracy appeals to you the most?
democracy with strong president
direct democracy
democracy with strong protections for individual and minority rights
democracy with institutional checks and balances
Which idea of education do you agree with the most?
character building
investing in human capital
preparing for citizenship
lighting a fire
Which of these normative ethics principles appeals to you the most?
virtue ethics (be a good person who takes action appropriate to the situation at hand)
utilitarianism (maximize well-being and minimize suffering)
justice-fairness (treat people fairly and equitably)
individual rights (respect individual life, liberty, and property)
At the end of your life, what would you like to be the most?
fulfilled
admired
envied
loved

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