Empirical research Challenge, focus, inspiration and support: Processes of values clarification and congruence $ Marilyn Fitzpatrick a,n , Alisha Henson a , Robin Grumet a , Gauthamie Poolokasingham a , Clare Foa a , Thea Comeau a , Claire Prendergast b a Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Canada b Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland article info Article history: Received 21 January 2015 Received in revised form 8 January 2016 Accepted 5 February 2016 Keywords: Values Meaning Intervention Mindfulness Congruence Values development Inspiration Challenge Support Attention abstract Explicit attention to clarifying and behaving congruently with values has important psychological and social implications. Research on the structure of values and on the relationship between values and well- being is well developed, but less is known about how to help people to articulate, change, or enact values. The current study investigated how 16 working adults undertook the processes of articulating or changing a value and increasing values-congruent behavior. Participants were interviewed approxi- mately three months after participating in a five-session values clarification and congruence workshop. A qualitative method, Thematic Analysis, indicated that participants were generally motivated to work on values because of life challenges. To enact behavioral changes related to values, participants needed to bring focused attention to the process at both cognitive and behavioral levels. Those participants who changed were often inspired by their value and drew on the support of others. Implications related to interventions for values development and directions for research on values clarification and congruence are discussed. & 2016 Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Values are an important source of human motivation (Hitlin & Piliavin, 2004). Psychological research has focused extensively on understanding how values relate to one another, on their devel- opment (Schwartz, 1992; 1994; Schwartz & Boehnke, 2004) and on the relationship between living according to values and positive outcomes (e.g., Ciarrochi, Fisher, & Lane, 2010; Levin, Hildebrandt, & Hayes, 2012; Lundgren, Dahl, & Hayes, 2008; McCracken & Yang, 2006). In addition, sociologists have extensively studied the im- pact of values on issues such as economic development, demo- cratic institutions, gender equality, and effective government (World Values Survey, n.d.). Understanding how people come to clarify their values and how they increase values-consistent ac- tions is less well-researched. The current study investigated the processes of articulating or changing values and increasing value- congruent behavior. 1.1. What are values? Psychologists have defined values in many ways (Hitlin & Pilia- vin, 2004; Rohan, 2000). Early work by Rokeach (1973) made the distinction between terminal values, what we hope to achieve (e.g., a comfortable life, a world at peace) and instrumental values, the way we go about achieving what we want (e.g., ambition, self- control). Schwartz (1992) extended the work of Rokeach and de- veloped an extensively researched classification system in which values are arrayed in a circumplex with two axes: openness to change versus conservation,and self-transcendence versus self-en- hancement. His theory emphasizes values as beliefs that are asso- ciated with desirable goals and that motivate action across different situations (Schwartz, 1994). Values are also central in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an empirically supported treat- ment that helps clients to accept difficult psychological experiences and commit to living a life congruent with deeply held personal values (Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda & Lillis, 2006). In the ACT approach, values are understood as freely chosen, verbally con- structed, and related to evolving patterns of activity (Wilson & DuFrene, 2009). The association of values with attendant methods or goals, and the idea of values as motivation for action are common across Schwartz and in ACT and guided the current study. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcbs Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2016.02.001 2212-1447/& 2016 Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ☆ The authors would like to thank Les Fonds de Récherche Société et Culture for support for parts of this work. n Correspondence to: Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, 3700 McTavish St., Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1Y2. E-mail address: marilyn.fitzpatrick@mcgill.ca (M. Fitzpatrick). Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science 5 (2016) 7–15