"We create who we are." ("Sophie's World" by J. Gaarder) What shapes our system of values?

Agnieszka Grochowska - 11.10.2018 @ 16:14

We, Sofie Glauß and Lennart Klein, focused on different factors influencing our system of values.

What has impacts on our system of values?

by Sofie Glauß and Lennart Klein, HPS Buxtehude/Germany

A system of values is defined as a hierarchy of values adopted and/or evolved by a society or person as a standard to guide its behaviour. We see the world with our own eyes and interpret our own life experiences, each person differently. Thereby our values are created.

Our value system is shaped by a variety of factors.

One of these factors is our language. Using a common language can unify people and cultures. The best example is English, which is spoken worldwide and allows people to communicate with each other all over the world. But a language can also be a unique characteristic of a society to keep regional traditions and in order to preserve people’s identity.

Another factor is our religion. Although the religion has become less important for most people, the values transmitted by our religion are still part of people’s identity today.

Furthermore, your environment influences your values. You get connected to the resources in your environment and they directly affect your beliefs. Especially the surroundings where one grew up have a great impact on one’s character.

Just like the environment, the people a person is surrounded by, shape their values and the perception of situations. Their opinions and beliefs can either be adopted from another person or can be changed in order to build their own values.  Also the relationships we have, had or will have influence or system of values.

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The most significant factor of people’s values are life experiences, which have a large impact not only on our self-evidence and decision making. Life experiences can be moments of happiness, but also strokes of fate. There is no other factor which is as significant in people’s characteristics and beliefs, because experiences go along with somebody for a whole life.

As the quote from "Sofie's World" states: "We create who we are." Moreover, that means that everybody has to set up and to take care of his own values including a person’s characteristics such as weaknesses and strengths. Therefore, we must accept that our identity and our values are unique and if we want others to respect our values, we will have to respect others’ characteristics as well, because otherwise our values and unique characteristics would become worthless.

Lennart Klein - 13.11.2018 @ 17:02

Hi Sofie and Lennart! Thanks a lot for sgaring your point of view! I like the way everything is so clear and logical in your article. The topic you chose is also very intriguing. I've never really though about what creates my value system so this text really opened my eyes on a lot of things. In the eng you wrote an interesting quote " we create who we are ". Its pretty thought provoking. I'd also like to share a quotation I've come across lately. It's from " Alice in wonderland" my sisters favourite book. Here it goes: " begin at the begining, and then go on till you come to the end: then stop." i just love it. It made my day :)

Marianna Gawron - 27.12.2018 @ 11:51

Hi! First of all, really great article - it's very factual and I really like how you've used Maslow's hierarchy of needs as an example. I think it's a quite important factor influencing our system of values, since, as you said in your article, ,,(...)your enviroment influences your values". After all, someone who is ,,at the top" of the hierarchy of needs, and has almost all of them fulfilled, will probably have a different set of values than someone who struggles to realize even their physiological needs (although there are definitely exceptions to that). Actually, I think the book mentioned in the article, ,,Sophie's World", might be an interesting point of refence to this problem. I read it some time ago, and I think it provides a really great insight into how our sets of values have changed over centuries. But overall, I really enjoyed your article :)

Julia Pawlak - 30.12.2018 @ 19:51

Hello Sofie and Lennart. Your work mentions an interesting subject and I enjoyed reading it. You explained what the system of values is from the scientific way and you also shared your point of view. In our everyday life, we don't really notice how the environment, language and life experiences affect us. That means we are not as independent as we think. Words and behavior of others stay in our subconsciousness whether we want it or not. You're right saying that everyone has to take care of his own values. Nowadays people forget about this aspect of life. That's why we need to acquire knowledge and become resistant to bad influence. Thank you for your work.

Jagoda Wnęk - 02.01.2019 @ 17:12

Hey Sofie and Lennart!

I think you wrote a very interesting article, which got me thinking a lot. You considered some points really logically and the factors you mentioned were also convincing. They described the system of values in today's society well. In my opinion, family, friends and other surroundings are the most important factors that influence our view to life generally. However, that can be changed over time when we get older and more mature. Everybody should find himself and have his own beliefs about values, which must be also respected by anyone. I hope every single one on earth could relize and understand that point! Thank you for your writing.

Julia Mahfud - 02.01.2019 @ 20:39

Hello Sofie and Lennart! I really enjoyed reading your article and I read it once again because it made me think about that topic. It's my belief that above all the family shapes your view of seeing things the most, because especially while growing up you kind of "shape your mind". In your youth also the surrounding is important because when you're younger you rather believe what others are saying than try to make up your own mind. Later in lifetime you are more independent and it would also take more time to convince you of something you've never believed in while as a child it wouldn't have taken a lot. In the end I have to say that I've never really thought about this so, thank you for writing!

Valentin Innerbichler - 30.01.2019 @ 14:53

Hey Sofie and Lennart,

you wrote a great article about a fascinating and thought-provoking topic. It was well structured and a pleasure to read.

Recently I watched a Ted Talk about how languages shape the way we think- which I can genuinely recommend you- and it made a similar point on what has an impact on us. For example, our environment: If our environment teaches us a word for something it changes our way of thinking about it. If our environment teaches us a value it changes the way we treat it, but like we learn different languages and continue to educate ourselves we have to look at others and our own values and try to understand as well as question them. We cannot just copy the values of the older generations; it is our time to think and we must do it ourselves.

All in all, I think you did an excellent job on explaining what has an impact on our system of values, I especially liked to point you made at the end of the text “and if we want others to respect our values, we will have to respect others’ characteristics as well”.

Magdalena Dessl - 07.02.2019 @ 22:27