Do you see yourself as an independent thinker? Consider your social relationships throughout life, from family to friends, partners, colleagues, and those who share your interests.

While valuing independence, you live in a community with its own culture—a set of implicit and explicit rules for shared beliefs and expected behavior. Your worldview blends personal values with those absorbed through culture and social interactions.

In small towns, community values are likely more uniform than in large cities, which offer diverse perspectives. As an independent thinker: 

How do you navigate a world where your values may differ from those around you?
How do you reconcile your beliefs in a society with diverse and sometimes conflicting worldviews about personal freedom versus collective responsibility?

Puzzle III explores how individual beliefs align or clash in diverse, multi-belief cultures. As people gravitate towards like-minded groups, factions emerge, forming shared belief systems that may be held rigidly or flexibly.

By examining these value alignments and how closely they are held, we can better understand the polarities driving shifts toward liberal or conservative ideologies.