Glossary
Instrumental Value
What is an instrumental value?
Instrumental value has two related uses. In ordinary evaluation, something has instrumental value when it is useful for achieving another aim. In Rokeach’s psychological framework, instrumental values are preferred ways of behaving, distinguished from terminal values, which concern desired end states.
Instrumental versus terminal values
Rokeach’s original theoretical account uses honesty and courage to illustrate preferred conduct. This is more specific than calling every useful object or resource an instrumental value in his framework.
Examples of instrumental value
A person may value acting honestly while pursuing a desired outcome. Separately, that person may value education because it opens a career path, money because it pays for necessities, or a phone because it helps them communicate. Both involve means, but they are different claims: one concerns a principle of conduct and the other the usefulness of an object.
Instrumental vs. intrinsic value
Instrumental value concerns usefulness for another aim; intrinsic value concerns value in itself. A thing can have more than one kind of value: someone can enjoy learning for its own sake and also value the opportunities an education provides. Naming the value does not, on its own, tell you what that person will do.