{"slug": "exploring-the-manifestation-of-schwartzs-basic-human-values-in-large-language", "title": "Exploring the Manifestation of Schwartz’s Basic Human Values in Large Language Models", "summary": "Researchers Ryan Hyland, Lewis Newsham, and Daniel Prince found that persona prompting can systematically shift the responses of a pre-trained large language model along Schwartz's ten basic human value dimensions, as measured by the Portrait Values Questionnaire Revised (PVQ-RR). The study, presented at the Second International Conference on Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence for Cyber Security (NLPAICS) in Alicante, Spain, in June 2026, used a neutral persona and human baseline as controls and suggests that value-based persona prompts could help configure the expressed response profiles of LLM-based agents.", "body_md": "##### Abstract\n\nThis study investigates the manifestation of Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Human Values (STBV) within a pre-trained Large Language Model (LLM) by evaluating how persona prompting influences the model’s responses. Specifically, we use prompt-based persona induction to represent Schwartz’s ten broad value types e.g., Universalism, Achievement) and measure their effects using the model’s responses to the Portrait Values Questionnaire Revised (PVQ-RR). A neutral persona and human baseline serve as control conditions to assess the influence of persona prompting. Prompting strategies are also compared. Results show that value-based persona prompts systematically shift the model’s PVQ-RR response profiles, indicating that LLM questionnaire responses can be steered along Schwartz value dimensions under controlled prompting conditions. These findings suggest that value-based persona prompts may be useful for studying and configuring the expressed response profiles of LLM-based agents. Using Schwartz’s values as a structured measurement framework provides a way to evaluate how LLM responses change under persona prompting and offers a basis for future studies of value-conditioned agent behaviour.- Anthology ID:\n- 2026.nlpaics-1.21\n- Volume:\n[Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence for Cyber Security](/volumes/2026.nlpaics-1/)- Month:\n- June\n- Year:\n- 2026\n- Address:\n- Alicante, Spain\n- Editors:\n[Ruslan Mitkov](/people/ruslan-mitkov/),[Rafael Muñoz](/people/rafael-munoz/),[Elena Lloret](/people/elena-lloret/unverified/),[Tharindu Ranasinghe](/people/tharindu-ranasinghe/),[Ernesto L. Estevanell-Valladares](/people/ernesto-luis-estevanell-valladares/),[Salima Lamsiyah](/people/salima-lamsiyah/unverified/),[Andrés Montoyo](/people/andres-montoyo/),[Saad Ezzini](/people/saad-ezzini/)- Venue:\n[NLPAICS](/venues/nlpaics/)- SIG:\n- Publisher:\n- Department of Languages and Information Systems, University of Alicante\n- Note:\n- Pages:\n- 189–203\n- Language:\n- URL:\n[https://aclanthology.org/2026.nlpaics-1.21/](https://aclanthology.org/2026.nlpaics-1.21/)- DOI:\n- Cite (ACL):\n- Ryan Hyland, Lewis Newsham, and Daniel Prince. 2026.\n[Exploring the Manifestation of Schwartz’s Basic Human Values in Large Language Models](https://aclanthology.org/2026.nlpaics-1.21/). In*Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence for Cyber Security*, pages 189–203, Alicante, Spain. Department of Languages and Information Systems, University of Alicante. - Cite (Informal):\n[Exploring the Manifestation of Schwartz’s Basic Human Values in Large Language Models](https://aclanthology.org/2026.nlpaics-1.21/)(Hyland et al., NLPAICS 2026)- PDF:\n[https://aclanthology.org/2026.nlpaics-1.21.pdf](https://aclanthology.org/2026.nlpaics-1.21.pdf)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/exploring-the-manifestation-of-schwartzs-basic-human-values-in-large-language", "canonical_source": "https://aclanthology.org/2026.nlpaics-1.21/", "published_at": "2026-07-31 00:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-10 23:17:50.615459+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["large-language-models", "ai-research", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["Ryan Hyland", "Lewis Newsham", "Daniel Prince", "Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values", "Portrait Values Questionnaire Revised", "NLPAICS", "University of Alicante"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/exploring-the-manifestation-of-schwartzs-basic-human-values-in-large-language", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/exploring-the-manifestation-of-schwartzs-basic-human-values-in-large-language.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/exploring-the-manifestation-of-schwartzs-basic-human-values-in-large-language.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/exploring-the-manifestation-of-schwartzs-basic-human-values-in-large-language.jsonld"}}