Values are sort of like the natural numbers. The other stuff in culture - that is subconscious, is related to dominance/status/ability to set priority is like the real numbers.

There's an overwhelming disparity in quantity.

and I don't believe people can introspect sufficiently to TRULY discover their values. But part of the problem is how they're presented in certain media - as if they were just things people choose to adopt. "I value family" is code for all sort of odious behavior. "I value fairness" alike ( trying to be.. balanced/bipartisan there ).

In truth, they're working abstractions, but when people start giving them an operating place in the construction of governance, it can be a real problem.

As goes the koan - "I cannot understand myself."