Looking at the third wave from the West: framing values within a broader scope of affective traits

This commentary paper analyses and discusses the conceptual analysis of values and the methodological choices made for its study, as presented in the separate papers of this special issue. As a foundation, the first part of the paper presents a metatheoretical framework for the affective domain, where stability (state vs. trait), functionality (truths, feelings and preferences) and level of analysis (individual vs. social) are its specific dimensions. The subsequent conceptual analysis identifies values as motivational traits. However, it was not possible to identify values exclusively as a social or as an individual construct, as the concept is used with both meanings, even by the same author. Further analysis elaborates how values develop, both on a cultural and an individual level, and how values can be studied.