Quiz — Chapter 11: Values, Beliefs, and Meaning-Making

25 questions. Multiple choice unless otherwise indicated. Answers with explanations at the end.

1. Values, as defined in the chapter, are best described as:

a) Specific desired outcomes or achievements b) Deeply held beliefs about what is fundamentally important, good, and worth pursuing c) Habitual patterns of behavior that are difficult to change d) Preferences about what a person finds enjoyable

2. Which of the following is a value (rather than a goal or preference)?

a) "I want to be promoted to senior manager by next year." b) "I prefer working from home to commuting." c) "Treating people with genuine respect matters to me, regardless of their status." d) "I enjoy hiking more than team sports."

3. According to Charles Taylor, "strong evaluations" are:

a) Preferences that are strongly held and resistant to change b) Evaluations concerning not just what we want but what is worth wanting — the core of what the chapter calls values c) Beliefs that have been strongly confirmed by evidence d) Moral judgments that apply universally across cultures

4. Shalom Schwartz's framework organizes basic human values along two axes. Which of the following correctly describes one of those axes?

a) Introversion vs. Extraversion b) Cognitive vs. Emotional c) Self-Enhancement vs. Self-Transcendence d) Individual vs. Collective

5. In Schwartz's framework, which of the following value pairs tend to be in conflict (on opposite ends of an axis)?

a) Benevolence and Universalism b) Achievement and Power c) Self-Direction and Stimulation d) Power and Universalism

6. Rokeach's distinction between terminal and instrumental values refers to:

a) Values that have been explicitly stated vs. values revealed through behavior b) Desired end-states vs. modes of conduct that help achieve those end-states c) Individual values vs. socially endorsed values d) Core values vs. peripheral preferences

7. In the ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) framework, the key distinction between values and goals is:

a) Values are more important than goals b) Goals are things others set for you; values are things you set for yourself c) Values are directional and inexhaustible; goals are achievable and completable d) Values are stable; goals are changeable

8. "Espoused values" refers to:

a) Values that are officially endorsed by an organization b) Values that a person states when asked what they value c) Values revealed by a person's behavioral patterns over time d) Values that have been explicitly examined through therapy or reflection

9. The consistent finding that a gap exists between espoused and enacted values suggests:

a) Most people are hypocrites b) Values are not real motivational forces in human behavior c) Values alignment requires ongoing attention and deliberate choice — it is not automatic d) Enacted values are always more accurate than espoused values

10. Core beliefs about the self (in cognitive-behavioral terms) differ from self-schemas primarily in that:

a) Core beliefs are more observable; self-schemas are more internal b) Core beliefs carry an assent — they are held as accurate representations of reality, not just cognitive generalizations c) Core beliefs are always negative; self-schemas can be positive or negative d) Core beliefs are conscious; self-schemas are entirely unconscious

11. The concept that beliefs function as self-fulfilling prophecies refers to:

a) The fact that all beliefs eventually come true b) The way in which beliefs influence behavior and perception in ways that tend to confirm the belief c) The psychological tendency to prefer beliefs that make us feel good d) The cognitive mechanism by which past experience shapes current beliefs

12. Cognitive defusion (from ACT) is best described as:

a) Challenging the accuracy of limiting beliefs and replacing them with more accurate ones b) Suppressing intrusive thoughts and beliefs that interfere with valued action c) Changing the relationship to thoughts and beliefs — creating distance so behavior can be chosen from values rather than from belief content d) Identifying and eliminating irrational beliefs through logical analysis

13. A key way cognitive defusion differs from standard cognitive behavioral techniques is:

a) Defusion does not require a trained therapist b) Defusion changes the relationship to a belief without asserting it is false; standard CBT challenges the belief's accuracy c) Defusion works better for positive beliefs; CBT works better for negative ones d) Defusion is primarily used for trauma; CBT is used for anxiety

14. Viktor Frankl's three sources of meaning are:

a) Faith, hope, and love b) Creative work, experiential value, and attitudinal value c) Achievement, connection, and purpose d) Work, relationships, and spirituality

15. Frankl's "attitudinal value" — the third source of meaning — refers to:

a) Having a positive attitude about life in general b) The attitude one takes toward unavoidable suffering — choosing one's stance in the face of what cannot be changed c) The values one expresses through one's attitude toward others d) Cultural attitudes that provide a sense of belonging

16. Roy Baumeister identified four needs that meaning satisfies. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

a) Purpose b) Efficacy c) Transcendence d) Self-worth

17. Michael Steger's Meaning in Life Questionnaire distinguishes:

a) Meaningful work from meaningful relationships b) Conscious meaning from unconscious meaning c) Presence of meaning from search for meaning d) Individual meaning from culturally shared meaning

18. Research on presence and search for meaning in different age groups finds:

a) High search is always associated with better wellbeing across the lifespan b) Declining search with stable high presence is more common in older adults; high search with moderate presence may be healthy in younger adults c) Meaning is stable across the lifespan and does not vary by age d) Older adults consistently report lower meaning than younger adults

19. Terror Management Theory (TMT) proposes that:

a) Fear of death is pathological and should be treated as an anxiety disorder b) Cultural worldviews and meaning systems partly function as anxiety buffers against awareness of mortality c) Terror and anxiety are the primary motivators of human behavior d) Meaning is illusory and serves only to distract people from existential reality

20. The TMT prediction that "mortality salience" increases worldview defense means:

a) Reminders of death make people more open to alternative worldviews b) When reminded of their mortality, people tend to cling more strongly to their existing worldview and react more negatively to challenges to it c) People who think about death often become nihilistic d) Awareness of mortality makes people more compassionate toward others

21. The values clarification process described in the chapter involves four steps. Which of the following is NOT one of those steps?

a) Generating value candidates b) Comparing your values to a culturally endorsed list c) Examining the gap between stated and enacted values d) Identifying one concrete action to move toward values alignment

22. Bronnie Ware's observations about the most common deathbed regrets are cited in the chapter primarily to illustrate:

a) That most people have low self-esteem at the end of life b) That values-alignment deficits accumulate over time into significant regret c) That death is a universal psychological problem d) That relationships are more important than work in all cultural contexts

23. The most common first deathbed regret in Ware's observations was:

a) "I wish I had worked harder" b) "I wish I had been more careful with money" c) "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me" d) "I wish I had been a better person"

24. The chapter argues that values alignment is:

a) Achieved once through thorough values clarification and maintained automatically b) An ongoing practice that requires regular attention because values do not automatically produce aligned behavior c) Possible only through formal therapy or coaching d) Less important than goal achievement for psychological wellbeing

25. (Short answer) Explain the difference between "espoused values" and "enacted values." Why does this distinction matter practically, and what does it suggest about how to conduct honest values clarification? (4–6 sentences)

Answer Key

1. b — Values are deeply held beliefs about what is fundamentally important and worth pursuing. They are distinct from goals (specific outcomes), preferences (what one enjoys), and habits (what one does automatically).

2. c — "Treating people with genuine respect regardless of their status" is a value — it concerns what is worth doing, not what is desired as an outcome (a), preferred as a comfort (b), or enjoyed as a pastime (d).

3. b — Taylor's "strong evaluations" concern what is worth wanting, not just what one wants. This is the philosophical basis for the concept of values as the chapter uses it.

4. c — Schwartz's two axes are: Self-Enhancement vs. Self-Transcendence, and Openness to Change vs. Conservation. Introversion/Extraversion is a personality dimension; Cognitive/Emotional is not a Schwartz axis.

5. d — Power and Universalism are on opposite ends of the Self-Enhancement vs. Self-Transcendence axis and tend to conflict. Benevolence and Universalism are adjacent (compatible); Achievement and Power are also adjacent; Self-Direction and Stimulation are adjacent.

6. b — Rokeach distinguished terminal values (desired end-states) from instrumental values (modes of conduct that help achieve them). This is not espoused vs. enacted (a), individual vs. social (c), or core vs. peripheral (d).

7. c — In ACT, values are inexhaustible directions (you can keep moving toward them indefinitely), while goals are completable milestones along the values path. Values are not simply "more important" goals (a) or stable vs. changeable (d).

8. b — Espoused values are what a person states when asked what they value. Enacted values are revealed by behavioral patterns. The organization-endorsed meaning (a) is sometimes called "espoused values" in organizational theory but that is not this chapter's use.

9. c — The gap between espoused and enacted values is primarily evidence that values do not automatically produce aligned behavior — alignment requires ongoing attention and deliberate choice. It does not imply hypocrisy (a) or that values are not motivational (b).

10. b — Core beliefs carry assent — they are held as accurate representations of reality. Self-schemas are cognitive generalizations that shape processing but are not necessarily held as truth claims. Core beliefs are not necessarily negative (c); both can be conscious or unconscious (d).

11. b — Self-fulfilling prophecies work through the mechanism of influencing behavior and perception in confirming directions. The trusting person extends trust → receives trustworthy responses → belief confirmed. Not all beliefs come true (a); the mechanism involves behavior, not just perception (c, d).

12. c — Defusion changes the relationship to thoughts — creating distance between the thinker and the thought — so that values-based behavior can occur regardless of thought content. It is distinct from challenging belief accuracy (a) or thought suppression (b).

13. b — Defusion is neutral about the truth of a belief; it says "I'm having the thought that X," not "X is false." Standard CBT techniques typically examine and challenge the accuracy or rationality of beliefs. Both work in different ways.

14. b — Frankl's three sources are creative work (what we give to the world), experiential value (what we receive from the world), and attitudinal value (the stance we take toward suffering). Options (a), (c), and (d) are common frameworks that Frankl did not use.

15. b — Attitudinal value is the meaning found in how one responds to unavoidable suffering — the last human freedom, in Frankl's formulation. It is not about general positivity (a) or cultural belonging (d).

16. c — Baumeister's four needs are: purpose, values, efficacy, and self-worth. Transcendence is not one of them (it appears in other meaning frameworks, e.g., Maslow's extended hierarchy).

17. c — Steger's Meaning in Life Questionnaire measures presence (how much current meaning is experienced) and search (how actively one is looking for meaning). These are distinct dimensions, not simply opposites.

18. b — Research on age and meaning: high search with moderate presence may be healthy for younger adults (still figuring things out); declining search with stable high presence is common in older adults (have found their framework). Overall search vs. presence patterns vary meaningfully by life stage.

19. b — TMT's core claim: meaning systems and cultural worldviews serve partly as anxiety buffers against mortality awareness. This is an empirical claim about psychological function, not a normative claim about which worldviews are valid.

20. b — The mortality salience prediction: when reminded of death, people defend their worldview more strongly and react more negatively to worldview challenges. Research evidence for this prediction is extensive.

21. b — The four steps are: generate candidates, group and prioritize, examine the gap (espoused vs. enacted), identify one concrete action. Comparing to a culturally endorsed list (b) is not part of the process — values clarification is individualized.

22. b — Ware's observations illustrate that values-alignment deficits accumulate into regret. The regrets are specifically about gaps between what mattered and how life was lived — a values-alignment story.

23. c — The most common regret was "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." The chapter specifically cites this as the most common observation from Ware's palliative care work.

24. b — Values alignment is an ongoing practice because values do not automatically produce aligned behavior; the gap between knowing what you value and living accordingly is maintained by habit, social pressure, immediate reward, and cognitive bias.

25. (Model answer) Espoused values are the values a person states when asked directly — the principles they consciously claim to hold. Enacted values are revealed by behavioral patterns over time — the values that a neutral observer would infer from watching what a person consistently chooses, prioritizes, and sacrifices for. The distinction matters because genuine values clarification must examine both: stated values reveal what a person believes they stand for, while enacted values reveal what they actually stand for when facing trade-offs and competing demands. Effective values clarification asks: what would a stranger infer from your behavior? The gap between the two accounts is where the most important work lies — not judging the gap, but using it as information about what changes would be most meaningful.