Humanism and Normativism
Two Fundamental Aspects of the Personal
Worldview
Artur Nilsson
Lund University, Sweden
The 13th European Congress of Psychology, July 12th, 2013,
Stockholm, Sweden
The study worldviews: What is it and why
do we need it?
The study of worldviews addresses the person’s most basic
constructs, assumptions, and scripts for understanding the world
Specific beliefs, attitudes, and values are embedded within broader
systems of meaning
Worldviews provide the sources of subjective meaning in
personality, and, as such, need to be studied in their own right
The study of worldviews and the study of traits are mutually
irreducible and equally basic to personality psychology
How do we study worldviews?
The most basic constructs, assumptions, and scripts are likely to be
manifested in different domains of the worldview (e.g. view of
human nature, moral convictions, epistemological orientations)
If we can find broad worldview patterns, we can infer basic sources
of meaning
But previous research on worldviews tends to a priori segregate
different domains of the worldview without justification
There are exceptions to this rule, most notably Silvan Tomkins’
theory of Humanism and Normativism
Humanism: “Is man the measure, an end in himself, an active,
creative, thinking, desiring, loving force in nature?”
Normativism: “Or must man realize himself, attain his full
stature only through struggle toward, participation in, conformity to
a norm, a measure, an ideal essence basically prior to and
independent of man?”
Silvan Tomkins, 1963
Humanism
Normativism
Human nature:
Basically good and valuable
Basically bad and worthless
Interpersonal:
Unconditional love, respect,
positive regard
Contingent respect, contempt,
punishment
Affect:
Openness, trust, maximization
Intolerance, control, minimization
Epistemology:
Imagination, creativity,
discovery, excitement
Discipline, rigor, verification,
minimization of error
Society:
Promote rights, freedoms,
dignity, positive affect
Maintain order, civilize,
discipline, punish
Goals of the current research
 Improving and evaluating the measurement of Humanism
and Normativism
 Better understanding their origins and explanatory power in
relation to other psychological constructs and phenomena
How do we measure Humanism and
Normativism?
Tomkins (1964): The Polarity Scale – 59 item-pairs (118 items)
Stone & Schaffner (1988): The PS40 – 40 item-pairs (80 items)
de St. Aubin (1996): The Modified Polarity Scale – 80 likert items
Nilsson (2013): Humanism-Normativism Facet Scales – 60 likert items
 Two levels of analysis (cf. The Big Five)
 Increased content-validity
 Increased reliability
A key issue: Do humanism and normativism form (a) one bi-polar
dimension, (b) two negatively correlated dimensions, or (c) two
unrelated dimensions? Low correlations in previous research
-.36
-.41
Good human
e1
e6
Bad human
-.34
.62
.61
Openness
e2
e7
.61
Control
-.45
Humanism
.75
Warmth
e3
.72
e8
Discipline
e9
Law and order
.05
.67
Rights
e4
.01
.57
Rationalism
e5
.58
Normativism
.65
.70
e10
Empiricism
Sweden (MPS): N = 531, Chi2(29) = 180.9, p < .001, CFI = .91, RMSEA = .099
USA (HNFS): N = 491, Chi2(29) = 132.3, p < .001, CFI = .93, RMSEA = .085
Humanism and Normativism are distinct, hierarchically
structured, and negatively related (across some facets)!
They seem to, at least partly, represent different psychological systems
..although they often evoke opposing attitudes with regard to
culturally situated ideological issues and clash with each other, thus
molding each other, within cultural discourses
But if they represent distinct systems, they should differ in their
origins and explanatory power, as expressed in their relations to other
relevant psychological constructs
1. Worldview constructs, 2. Political ideology, and 3. The Big Five
1. Relations to other worldview constructs
Normativism: mechanism, positivism, essentialism, static-world
beliefs, certain knowledge epistemology, moral convictions emphasizing
loyalty, authority, and purity, cynicism, and conservatism…
Humanism: organicism, constructionism, transcendentalism,
experientialist epistemology, spiritualism, moral convictions
emphasizing care and fairness, preference for equality, and trust…
Hypothesized normativistic correlates
Sample
Humanism
Normativism
Mechanism
147 (mixed)
-.10
.33***
Positivism
147 (mixed)
.03
.54***
87 (SWE)
-.13
.56***
414 (USA)
-.06
.19***
87 (SWE)
.08
.45***
414 (USA)
-.08
.36***
Certain knowledge
87 (SWE)
-.11
.41***
Loyalty, authority, and purity
110 (USA)
.02
.43***
332 (SWE)
-.03
.35***
87 (SWE)
-.09
.56***
Essentialism
Static world-beliefs
Cynicism
Note: # p < .10, * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001
Hypothesized humanistic correlates
Sample
Humanism
Normativism
Organicism
147 (mixed)
.47***
-.22*
Constructionism
147 (mixed)
.40***
-.06
Transcendentalism
147 (mixed)
.53***
-.06
Experientialist epistemology
87 (SWE)
.38**
-.27*
Spiritualism
87 (SWE)
.55***
-.12
414 (USA)
.39***
-.20***
Interpersonal trust
87 (SWE)
.46***
-.24#
Harm and rights
110 (USA)
.51***
-.18#
332 (SWE)
.58***
-.34***
Note: # p < .10, * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001
How can the unique aspect of normativism
be explained?
One function that worldviews serve is to provide a sense of meaning,
stability, and self-esteem that assuages existential fears and anxieties
regarding death, uncertainty, change, meaninglessness, etc. (Becker, 1973;
Berger & Luckmann, 1966; Dilthey, 1890; Jaspers, 1919; Jost et al., 2003;
Greenberg, Pyszczinski, & Solomon, 1986; Proulx & Heine, 2006)
Perhaps they serve this function through normativism
Becker (1973) on the need to feel significant (self-esteem):
[the human being] must desperately justify himself as an object of primary value in the
universe, he must stand out, be a hero, make the biggest possible contribution to world life,
show that he counts more than anything or anyone else [..] The hope and belief is that the
things that man creates in society are of lasting worth and meaning, that they outlive or
outshine death and decay, that man and his products count.
2. Relation to political ideology (with John
Jost)
Normativism is related to (right-wing) political identity through
resistance to change, tolerance of inequality, system justification,
lack of openness, moral concern with loyalty, authority, and purity,
and lack of concern with harm and rights
Humanism is related to (left-wing) political identity through
preference for equality, emotionality, honesty-humility, and moral
concern with harm and rights
.42/.29
Humanism
-.20/-.23
-.17/-.41
Prefer equality
-.25/-.52
-.45/-.43
-.29/-.36
Normativism
.20/.46
.02/.35
System justification
.26/.32
Political identity
.29/.11
.27/.40
Resist change
USA, N = 212, Chi2(7) = 6.65, p = .47, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = .000
Sweden, N = 332, Chi2(7) = 6.70, p = .15, CFI = .997, RMSEA = .045
3. Relation to the Big Five Aspects (mixed
online sample, N = 183)
Humanism
Normativism
Volatility
.04
.02
Withdrawal
.00
.02
Compassion
.48***
-.40***
Politeness
.30***
-.37***
Industriousness
.22**
-.03
Orderliness
.12
.22**
Enthusiasm
.31***
-.16*
.05
-.01
.29***
-.31***
.07
-.20**
Assertiveness
Openness
Intellect
Note: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001
Future directions
 Evaluate the humanism and normativism scales in different
cultures
 Investigate the psychological origins of humanism and
normativism
 Further investigate their explanatory power, e.g. ideological
phenomena, clinical psychology, educational psychology
 Investigate the causal relations between traits and worldviews
 Study worldviews more systematically in general, going beyond
humanism and normativism
Thank you for your attention!
Contact:
artur.nilsson@psy.lu.se