Security as a Personal Value: Meaning, Examples, and Related Values
What Is Security as a Core Value?
Security values safety, predictability, and reduced exposure to threats. People high in Security build buffers and safeguards against volatility, especially to protect personal safety, peace of mind, relationships, home, and daily routines.
Why Security Matters
Honoring Security helps you:
- reduce anxiety about the future,
- protect critical assets and relationships,
- create dependable environments,
- support long-term planning.
How Security Shows Up (High vs. Low Expression)
High Expression
- implements protective policies,
- maintains contingency plans,
- mitigates risks proactively,
- values stable systems.
Low Expression
- ignores early warning signs,
- underestimates threats,
- resists safeguards as “overkill,”
- embraces avoidable volatility.
Common Challenges of High Security
- risk aversion blocking innovation,
- slower change adoption,
- overcontrol in relationships,
- comfort-zone stagnation.
Security in Conflict With Other Values
Security vs. Freedom
Freedom favors flexibility; Security constrains to protect.
Tension: open options vs. guarded safety.
Security vs. Adventure
Adventure embraces uncertainty; Security minimizes exposure.
Tension: exploration risk vs. risk containment.
Examples of Security in Daily Life
- Using multi-factor authentication widely.
- Keeping emergency supplies and plans.
- Diversifying dependencies to reduce single points of failure.
- Choosing stable neighborhoods or roles.
Strengths and Risks of Security as a Value
Strengths
Those who value safety are careful in making decisions and avoid excessive risk. Care for safety often comes from caring for loved ones.
Risks
An exaggerated search for security can be very restrictive. Be realistic about the risk assessment.
From the Global Values Research
How often people rank Security
Across the 2,099,004 assessments completed on personalvalu.es since 2020.
- Appearance rateof assessments rank it in their ten. 10th of 62 values.
- 24.8%
- First placeof assessments put it first. 8th of 62 on this measure.
- 2.9%
- Top threeof assessments put it in the top three. 39% of those who rank it.
- 9.7%
- Average positionis its mean position, out of ten, where it is ranked at all.
- 4.9
Security is ranked more often with age, from 16.5% among participants under 18 to 21.2% among those 65 and over. Women rank it more often than men, at 21.6% against 16.6%.
Age and gender from the assessments of December 2025 to September 2026 whose participants gave them.
