Psychologists Await Replies On Value-Judgment Survey

Two Harvard psychologists are awaiting the first foreign replies from an international project attempting to discover how the value judgments of people in different environments differ. Begun last year in the Social Relations Department, the Survey is entitled an "International Pilot Study of Values and Expectations of Youth."

The study, the first of its kind ever attempted, is being directed by Gordon W. Allport '19, professor of Psychology, and James M. Gillespie, a graduate student in the field.

Although the primary purpose of the survey is to reveal to the scientists how ideas of value very in different national groups, the project will also attempt to discover problems involved in carrying out a scientific investigating on an international basis.

Plans, Expectations, Aspirations

Divided into two sections, the essay portion of the questioning uses what is known as the "future auto-biography" method. Students are therein asked to write a free essay on their plans, expectations and aspirations between now and the age of 70.

A questionnaire dealing with such general questions as what the students would like to have that they haven't, what things they would most like to know about the future, and what events they think most significant comprises the second section of the project.

Work on the project has been going on for some time in the Social Relations Laboratory, and students who took Social Relations 1a last year filled out the first forms of the program. The results of these tests will be combined with the samples taken at Miami University in Oxford. Ohio, to derive the United States consensus.

Some Conclusions Next Year

Although the psychologists emphasize that the project is largely "exploratory," they hope to find answers to questions such as: "Are people more preoccupied with their personal lives in some cultures than others, and are individuals in some nations more inclined to blame their difficulties on their own shortcomings?

Arrangements have already been made for approximately 150 students in Germany, Italy, Egypt, Poland, Japan, France, and Mexico to participate and the directors hope to have some conclusions available by next year