Worldview: Personal ideology, values and beliefs concerning metaphysics, epistemology, human nature and morality

Abstract: First, de St. Aubin's (1996) modified polarity scale (MPS), adapted from Tomkins (1965), was investigated, using data from 315 Swedes. Structural equation modeling rendered two super factors, humanism and normativism, and two sub-factors of humanism. Adding the third factor only produced a slight increase in model fitness. The second part of the study was aimed at probing deeper into the worldviews of 80 students, and factors assumed to influence them, using questionnaires and Q-methodology. This yielded four main worldviews and a reconceptualization of humanism and normativism, modeling humanism as a dynamic action-oriented dimension with the basic incitement of promoting happiness, along with general optimism, and normativism as a robust bipolar dimension constituting the philosophical foundation of the worldview. The results also suggest that the integration of humanism and normativism is pivotal to psychological health. Further implications and suggestions for research are discussed.