Description
- Abstract:
- Moving to a new community can be one of the most personally transformative choices because of our communities’ deep influence on us, and thus one of the most important to consider carefully. We’ve been shown to consistently underestimate how much our values will change in the future, but is this true when moving gives us a reason to expect change? Do we adjust our expectations for change based on the community we’re entering, or how we frame our values? Across 2 studies, values framed in terms of action (“sacred values”) change less than values framed in terms of consequences (“outcome values”) and can be predicted more accurately, likely because of their greater personal importance and stronger community basis. College first-years change more over their first 5 months than upperclassmen and are less accurate at predicting how their values will change, likely because of their lack of exposure to the college community. First-years’ political leaning becomes more similar to the upperclassmen over their first 5 months but not their values, perhaps because upperclassmen are not functionally in the first-years' community, although first-years’ political leaning does not become closer to their friends’. An online sample of American adults reveals values to change as a result of changes to one’s friend group but not one’s city. Sacred values drive the correlation between changes to one’s friend group and one’s values, demonstrating their community basis. These findings indicate that exposure to a new, personally relevant community facilitates change to values, and that our expectations for value change hinge on familiarity with our community and how our values are framed.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Sc. M.)--Brown University, 2026
Citation
Waite, William Ryan,
"Predicting Value Change in New Communities"
(2026).
Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:69v2qtws/
Relations
Collection:
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Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences department....