Activity 2.7 Cultural and Personal Values Exercise

ACT Processes:

• Values

Objectives:

• Facilitate participants’ reflection on their own socio-cultural and collective values from family, communities, and society
• Facilitate participants’ reflection on their personal values
• Promote awareness of the influence of socio-cultural context on one’s values and the potential for conscious choice in ones’ values

Participation Format:

• Participants work independently for a few minutes and then share in a large circle

Number of Facilitators:

• 2

Time Required:

• 20 mins

Materials Required:

• Appendix 2.7 List Of Examples of Full Living Values

Activities & Instructions

Instructions for participants

1. Introduction

Describe the overall purpose of the exercise.

• As we discussed, we all have our own set of values that guide us through our lives. In this exercise, we will explore our cultural and personal values and their relationship to one another.

2. Identify Cultural and Personal Values.

One facilitator hands out the list of sample words for values (Appendix 2.7 List of Examples of Full Living Values) and reads the instructions. Clarify if there are any questions. Allow the participants to work on their own for about 6 minutes.

3. Debrief the exercise in large group.

Invite participants to share their values and their reflections on them:

• Would anyone like to share their cultural and personal values?
• Do you notice any relationship between the two sets of values?
• In what way are your cultural values helpful? In what way have you found them problematic?

4. Conclude.

Summarize all the reflections shared about this exercise, noting that the participants are free to choose their values – including some which may be identical to their cultural values; some which may have evolved or adapted from their cultural values; some that may have no relationship with their cultural values; and some that may be in opposition to their cultural values.

References & Sources

• A non-exhaustive list based on various values lists, including those commonly ascribed to major cultural or religious values.
• http://www.barriedavenport.com/list-of-400-values/
• https://sites.google.com/site/welcometoindianculture/home/ethnicity/indian-values-and-beliefs
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism
• http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Cardinal_Virtues
• Cheung F. M., Cheung. S. F., Wada, S., Zhang, J. (2003). Indigenous measures of personality assessment in Asian countries: A review. Psychological Assessment, 15(3):280–9.
• Fung, K. P. (2004). Study of alexithymia in Chinese Canadians. Master’s thesis. Toronto: University of Toronto.

Appendix 2.7 List Of Examples of Full Living Values

1. Please circle the top 3 Cultural Values that most reflect your up-bringing and your socio-cultural values from your family, community, and society, and write “CV” beside them;
2. Please circle the top 3 Personal Values of your own choice, which may or may not be the same as above, and write “PV” beside them. If there are important values that are not listed, please feel free to add them to the list.