Toward a Unified Worldview Measure

Abstract

A worldview is an individual difference construct that has been linked to various behavioral and health outcomes. However, we know little about the development and structure of worldviews. One obstacle that has impeded research on worldviews is the lack of a robust worldview measure. This research sought to create such a measure. In Study 1, we combined five previously published worldview measures and administered them to 171 participants from a mid-size, public university. The combined 160 items were reduced through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), leaving 77 items which formed eight preliminary factors. In Study 2, we sought to re-identify and confirm the factors with an adequate sample size, ensuring that the new measure maintained a meaningful breadth while eliminating redundant or extraneous items. We recruited 772 participants online through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). EFAs resulted in 41 items which formed five factors: Factor 1, Humanism and Harmony; Factor 2, Secularism; Factor 3, Eastern-Based Spirituality; Factor 4, Self-Reliance; and Factor 5, Determinism. Network model visualizations of the items are included to illustrate the relationships among the worldview items. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the new 41-item measure, which we named the Unified Worldview Measure (UWM), suggested that the UWM has good relative fit but inadequate absolute fit. Finally, a third study was conducted to evaluate the criterion validity of the new measure. We recruited 333 participants online via Prolific. As hypothesized, scores on the five UWM factors correlated with participants’ personality, health, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and political and religious affiliations, providing support for the UWM’s criterion validity. Future uses and improvements to the UWM are suggested in the discussion. This new, 41-item measure, though still in need of improvement, has significant potential to further worldview research.

Keywords

worldview measurement psychometrics beliefs personality

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