Value priorities, social value orientations and cooperation in social dilemmas

Investigating whether benevolent or universalism value types are more closely related to social value orientations, a survey of 190 undergraduates elicited value priorities, social value orientations and preferences for cooperation in a social dilemma. In analyses of the value priorities a benevolence, a universalism and several individualistic value types were revealed. It was found that the priority ascribed to universalism but not to benevolence values successfully discriminated between participants whose social value orientations were classified as prosocial or proself. Almost as accurately as social value orientations, value priorities predicted preferences for cooperation in the social dilemma.