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U.S. society is made up of a diversity of ethnic groups and cultures that have helped shape American values; Some individuals and groups have a set of respected values that are quite different from those of mainstream America; People's attitudes and behavior are based on their values.

What are similarities in social and cultural values in a country?

Values are an integral part of every culture. Along with beliefs and worldview assumptions, they generate behavior. Being part of a culture that shares a common core set of values creates expectations and predictability without which a culture would disintegrate and its members would lose their personal identity and sense of worth. Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, appropriate...etc. They answer the question of why people do what they do. Values help people solve common human problems for survival. Over time, they become the roots of traditions that groups of people find important in their day to day lives. Values can be positive or negative; some are destructive. To understand people of other cultures, we must come to understand the values, beliefs and assumptions that motivate their behavior of there values over. Groups, societies, or cultures have values that are largely shared by their members. The values identify those objects, conditions or characteristics that members of the society consider important; that is, valuable. In the United States, for example, values might include material comfort, wealth, competition, individualism or religiosity . The values of a society can often be identified by noting which people receive honor or respect. In the US, for example, professional athletes at the top levels in some sports are honored (in the form of monetary payment) more than college professors. Surveys show that voters in the United States would be reluctant to elect an atheist as a president, suggesting that belief in God is a value. There is a difference between values clarification and cognitive moral education. Values clarification is, "helping people clarify what their lives are for and what is worth working for. Students are encouraged to define their own values and understand others' values. Cognitive moral education is based on the belief that students should learn to value things like democracy and justice as their moral reasoning develops. Values are related to the norms of a culture, but they are more general and abstract than norms. Norms are rules for behavior in specific situations, while values identify what should be judged as good or evil. Flying the national flag on a holiday is a norm, but it reflects the value of patriotism. Wearing dark clothing and appearing solemn are normative behaviors at a funeral. They reflect the values of respect and support of friends and family. Different cultures reflect different values. "Over the last three decades, traditional-age college students have shown an increased interest in personal well-being and a decreased interest in the welfare of others. Values seemed to have changed, affecting the beliefs, and attitudes of college students. Members take part in a culture even if each member's personal values do not entirely agree with some of the normative values sanctioned in the culture. This reflects an individuals ability to synthesize and extract aspects valuable to them from the multiple subcultures they belong to. If a group member expresses a value that is in serious conflict with the group's norms, the group's authority may carry out various ways of encouraging conformity or stigmatizing the non-conforming behavior of its members. For example, imprisonment can result from conflict with social norms that have been established as law.

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The Source of Values in Our Human Makeup (top) Values Reflect Highest Expression of Mind and Thought Personal values for an individual, business values for the company, and social values of the society are a reflection of the highest principal of mind and thought, and may can even be said to be part of the spiritual domain. Source of our Values Within Values are seated in the mind; below pure thinking of the philosopher and mathematician, but above the mechanical thought processing that turn facts into understanding. It is mental perception of certain truths and ideals of life mixed with a certain vital urge to see them come about.

Where Values Originate from In Our Being There are three parts of the being; the physical body, the vital part, and the mental part. The body is unconscious. It has no sense of values. The vital has emotions, feelings, attitudes, and skills of living. If the vital endorses a value one day, it can oppose it the next because it is unstable. Mind contains fact processing at its base and pure conception and pure thinking at its top. In between, in the middle mind is the seat of values and sentiments. (Above these three parts of mind proper, are the higher and spiritual mind.) Character vs. Values vs. Attitudes Character denotes the type of man one is. Values are what that individual believes and subscribes to; his mental sentiments. Attitudes are rooted in one's vital emotion and feelings, usually expressive of mental opinions, which are subject to being error-prone and false. Values are often identified with something more positive, some higher sentiment or belief or even ideal. It has almost spiritual roots. Origin of Values It is spiritual in the sense, values originate from the highest levels of thought and mind, bordering on the spiritual. It is said by Sri Aurobindo, the Indian sage and seer, that the Universe comes to us as values.