The Allport-Vernon Study of Values (SOV) is one of the earliest, theoretically well-grounded questionnaires measuring personal values on the basis of declared behavioral preferences. The SOV was first published in 1931 by G. W. Allport and P. E. Vernon (1931) and later revised in 1970 by Allport, Vernon, and G. Lindzey (1970). It is a psychological tool designed to measure personal preferences of six types of values: theoretical, economic, aesthetic, social, political, and religious. The method is rooted in a philosophy of values by E. Spranger, who postulated six ideal types of people corresponding to their most important and general beliefs, ways of thinking, and preferred patterns of living. Each one is oriented toward a basic value: (1) Theoretical: truth; (2) Economic: usefulness; (3) Aesthetic: harmony and beauty; (4) Social: love for people; (5) Political: power and leadership; (6) Religious: unity or moral excellence. The idea was developed by G. W. Allport (1961), who argued that personal philosophy of life related to values is a core feature of personality implying direction of motivation, future goals, and current choices. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Human-Resources-2866/2008/11/Values-1.htm The Allport-Vernon Study of Values categorizes values into six major types as follows:
Theoretical: Interest in the discovery of truth through reasoning and systematic thinking.
Economic: Interest in usefulness and practicality, including the accumulation of wealth.
Aesthetic: Interest in beauty, form and artistic harmony.
Social: Interest in people and human relationships.
Political: Interest in gaining power and influencing other people.
Religious: Interest in unity and understanding the cosmos as a whole.
People place different importance to the above value types. This is important from the point of view of understanding the behavior of people. People in different occupations have different value systems which has led