Shalom H. Schwartz


Shalom H. Schwartz is a social psychologist, cross-cultural researcher and creator of the Theory of Basic Human Values. He also contributed to the formulation of the values scale in the context of social learning theory and social cognitive theory.

Biography

After completing his master's degree in social psychology and group development at Columbia University and completing his rabbinical studies, Schwartz received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan, and subsequently taught in the sociology department of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and in 1973 became a professor. From 1971-73, Schwartz was a visiting lecturer in the department of psychology at the Hebrew University.
In 1979, Schwartz moved to Israel with his wife and three children. He joined the department of psychology at the Hebrew University, where he holds the post of Leon and Clara Sznajderman Professor Emeritus of Psychology. He is now retired, but continues his research activity, as well as developing and promoting his Basic Human Values Theory.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Schwartz was following the studies of Geert Hofstede about human values and built upon them in his research on pro-social and altruistic behavior. His research has since included studies on the development and consequences of a range of behavioral attitudes and orientations, such as religious belief, political orientation and voting, social group relations, consumer behavior, as well as the conceptualization of human values across cultures.
Schwartz is a fellow of the American Psychological Foundation and is a member of the American Sociological Foundation, European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, the Israel Psychological Association, the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He is president of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. He coordinates an international project in more than 70 countries that studies the antecedents and consequences of individual differences in value priorities and the relations of cultural dimensions of values to societal characteristics and policies. His value theory and instruments are part of the ongoing, biannual European Social Survey.

Awards