What is the "opposite" of a value? A lexical investigation into the structure of generally undesirable goal content.

Objectives: Past taxonomies of goal-content have focused (either exclusively or predominantly) on generally-desirable values, and they suggest that some values oppose other values. However, many goals are generally-undesirable (i.e., the average person is committed to avoiding them), and these "vices" have been under-studied. This is an important gap because other models suggest that the "opposite" of a value is actually a vice.

Methods: To fill this gap, we conducted a lexical investigation. Two large samples (involving 504 undergraduates & 257 online participants) first rated their commitment to approaching or avoiding a large number of goals from the English lexicon.

Results: Analyses indicated that vices can be summarized in terms of Elitism, Rebellion, and Disrepute, which appear opposite from Inclusiveness, Tradition, and Prominence values (respectively) in MDS models. In Study 3 (involving 280 undergraduates) and Study 4 (involving 261 online participants), we found that Schwartz values of Universalism, Tradition, and Self-Enhancement actually appeared opposite from Elitism, Rebellion, and Disrepute (respectively) in MDS models, rather than from other values.

Conclusions: This investigation develops an instrument which can distinguish between different vices at a holistic level, and it suggests that they are actually the opposite of select values.