VALS Survey Free Online: Your Closest Two of the Eight Types

Your closest two types, and what they say about you

Answer the 22 statements in the profile card above and your full profile opens here: your closest and second-closest of the eight types, where you sit on the two dimensions, and how a marketer would reach you, ready to copy or print for an assignment. It is an independent VALS-style estimate built from our own statements. Poll Maker has no link to, and no endorsement from, SRI International or Strategic Business Insights.

The interactive self-check needs JavaScript. Score yourself by hand with the key below; it gives the same result. The statements are in the question list and on the printable questionnaire.

How your result is worked out

Nothing is hidden: the same rule scores the self-check, the paper questionnaire and any class survey you run from this page.

Score every answer from 1 to 5, where Strongly disagree is 1, Neutral is 3 and Strongly agree is 5. Statement 22 (familiar brands and places) counts the other way round: use 6 minus your answer.
Average each block. Ideals is statements 1 to 5, Achievement 6 to 10, Self-expression 11 to 15 and Resources 16 to 22.
Innovators: Resources at 4.0 or higher, and all three motivation averages at 3.5 or higher.
Survivors: Resources at 2.5 or lower, and no motivation average reaching 3.5.
Everyone else: your highest motivation average is your main motivation, and Resources of 3.5 or more puts you on the higher row. Ideals gives Thinkers above the line and Believers below it, Achievement gives Achievers or Strivers, and Self-expression gives Experiencers or Makers.
Second closest: when Resources is within 0.3 of 3.5, take the same motivation on the other row; otherwise take your next-highest motivation on the same row. Innovators take the higher-row type of their strongest motivation, and Survivors the lower-row one.
If your two highest motivation averages are within 0.1 of each other, you sit between those two types on your row.

Worked example: Ideals 4.2, Achievement 3.6, Self-expression 2.8, Resources 4.0. Not Innovators, because Self-expression is under 3.5. Ideals is the main motivation and Resources is above the line, so the closest profile is Thinkers. Resources sits 0.5 from the line, so the second closest is the next motivation on the same row: Achievers.

The eight VALS types in plain English

VALS was created at SRI International in 1978, and the current eight-type system launched in 1989.¹ Strategic Business Insights (SBI) owned and ran it until SBI closed in 2024.^{3, 8} VALS is a trademark of its owner. The descriptions below are our own words.

Two things place every type: what drives you, and what you have to act on it

The framework sorts adults on two dimensions.² The first is primary motivation: ideals (guided by knowledge and principles), achievement (guided by success other people can see) or self-expression (guided by activity, variety and risk). The second is resources: income and education, but also energy, self-confidence, curiosity, novelty seeking and leadership. Resources decide how fully someone can act on a motivation, which is why each motivation splits into a higher and a lower type.

Primary motivation	Higher resources	Lower resources
All three, with the highest resources	Innovators
Ideals	Thinkers	Believers
Achievement	Achievers	Strivers
Self-expression	Experiencers	Makers
None dominant, with the lowest resources	Survivors

All eight at a glance

Type	What they are like, and how a marketer reaches them
Innovators All three, highest resources	Innovators are confident, curious people with the most resources. They draw on all three motivations at once and are often first to adopt new ideas and technology. Reach them: Lead with what is genuinely new and well made. Early access, launch events, expert reviews and design detail reach this profile; generic discounts do not.
Thinkers Ideals motivation, higher resources	Thinkers are well-resourced planners guided by ideals. They research before they buy and favor proven, practical, long-lasting products. Reach them: Give the facts: specifications, independent test results, warranties and clear comparisons. Calm, reasoned messages in trusted publications land better than hype.
Believers Ideals motivation, lower resources	Believers are guided by ideals and have fewer resources. They hold to tradition, community and clear rules, and stay with brands they know and trust. Reach them: Speak to family, community and consistency. Familiar brands, local media, word of mouth and messages that show a product fits their values work best.
Achievers Achievement motivation, higher resources	Achievers are busy, goal-focused people with ample resources. Career and family sit at the center of their lives, and they like purchases that signal success. Reach them: Show how a product saves time and signals success. Premium positioning, respected brands, convenience and messages about getting ahead reach this profile.
Strivers Achievement motivation, lower resources	Strivers are driven by achievement and have fewer resources. They are keen to get ahead, enjoy fun and style, and like things that look successful. Reach them: Offer the look of success at an accessible price: affordable versions of aspirational brands, easy payment options, social media and creator content.
Experiencers Self-expression motivation, higher resources	Experiencers are energetic, social people with ample resources who are driven by self-expression. They chase new experiences and pick up fresh trends quickly. Reach them: Make it exciting and new: limited releases, events, travel, sport and entertainment tie-ins, and fast-moving social video.
Makers Self-expression motivation, lower resources	Makers express themselves through hands-on work. They are practical and self-reliant, and put their energy into the outdoors, family and home. Reach them: Show practical value and how things work: durable tools, DIY guides, how-to video and plain, no-nonsense claims.
Survivors None dominant, lowest resources	Survivors have the fewest resources and no single dominant motivation. They favor routine, familiar places and trusted brands, and spend carefully. Reach them: Stress value, reliability and familiarity: known brands, clear prices, discounts and loyalty rewards, through local stores and everyday media.

Doing this for a class?

Most VALS assignments ask the same three things. Answer each one from your self-check result, and keep the facts and the name changes below for the quiz.

The three questions teachers set

The assignment asks	What to write
What are your primary and secondary types?	Your closest and second-closest profiles, noting they come from an independent VALS-style self-check because the official survey is no longer offered.
How does the description fit you? Agree or disagree, and why.	Quote one line that fits and one that does not, for both types, then name the statement that pushed your score that way.
How could marketers use VALS?	Pick one product you buy and say how a brand would change its message, price or channel to reach your profile.

A worked answer

"My closest profile is Thinkers, and Achievers is second. The research part fits: I read reviews and compare the facts before any big purchase, and I gave that statement a 5. The part about favoring proven products fits less, because I also gave a 4 to being among the first to try new products, and I bought my phone in its launch week. The Achievers description fits my goal setting but not the status part: I would not pay more for a brand just because it signals success. A laptop brand could reach me with independent test results and a long warranty, placed on review sites rather than in a celebrity advert."

Key facts for the test

Eight types, placed on two dimensions: primary motivation (ideals, achievement or self-expression) and resources.²
Resources cover energy, self-confidence, curiosity, novelty seeking and leadership as well as income and education.²
SRI International launched the first VALS in 1978, based on the work of consumer futurist Arnold Mitchell. The current system launched in 1989; textbooks often call it VALS2.^{1, 4}
VALS began as short for Values and Lifestyles. Since 1990 it has been a name, not an acronym.³
Strategic Business Insights, an SRI spin-off, owned and ran VALS until it ceased operations in May 2024.^{1, 8}
The eight types describe US adults. SBI built separate systems for other countries, such as UK VALS (1995, six groups).^{12, 13}

Old names you will still see in slides

Course materials often mix three generations of names, which is where lists of "nine VALS types" and "Self-Actualizers" come from.^{9, 10, 11}

You may see	Where it comes from	Current name
Actualizers	The 1989 system, renamed between 2002 and 2003	Innovators
Fulfilleds	The 1989 system, renamed between 2002 and 2003	Thinkers
Strugglers	The 1989 system, renamed between 2002 and 2003	Survivors
Believers, Achievers, Strivers, Experiencers, Makers	The 1989 system	Unchanged
Nine lifestyles: Survivors, Sustainers, Belongers, Emulators, Achievers, I-Am-Me, Experiential, Societally Conscious, Integrateds	The original 1978 VALS, in four groups	Replaced by the eight types in 1989
Self-Actualizers	Never a VALS type. SRI described its top 1978 group, the Integrateds, as self-actualizing	No match: a list with it mixes the two systems

Can you still take the official VALS survey?

Not any more. The official questionnaire has not been offered to the public since early 2024, and its owner, Strategic Business Insights, ceased operations that May.^{7, 8} You can still read the official descriptions and take our independent self-check above.

When	What happened
Until late 2023	SBI's free online survey asked 35 agree-or-disagree statements on a four-point scale plus a few background questions, and reported a primary and a secondary type.^{5, 6}
February 2024	The survey page said the questionnaire was no longer provided publicly.⁷
May 2024	SBI ceased operations. Its closure notice points readers to the Internet Archive for its former website.⁸
26 September 2026	We checked again: SBI's web address no longer resolves, so survey links in older course materials lead nowhere.

The official type descriptions are still readable in the Internet Archive's copy of SBI's US framework and VALS types page, and SRI International keeps a short history of the VALS program.

Our self-check uses the same two public ideas but is not the official classifier. SBI's questionnaire combined attitude statements with demographics and its scoring was proprietary, so an official type and our closest profile can differ, most often for someone near the line between two types.^{5, 14, 17}

Putting the eight types to work in a plan or a class study

VALS was sold for product development, positioning and communications. Here is how to use the types in a marketing plan or a class study, where critics say the framework falls short, and which version a textbook means.

One electric bike at the center, with paths to four different pitches: a spec sheet under a magnifier, a premium gift box, an event ticket and an open toolbox

One product, a different pitch for each type

Segmenting only pays off when it changes what you say. Take one product, an electric bike: show Thinkers the range test and the warranty, Achievers the time it saves on a busy commute, Experiencers the launch ride and Makers the repair guide. Pick one or two target types first, then build the product story around their motivation. SBI's own list of uses ran from new-product development to positioning and communications.⁴ The table of all eight gives a starting pitch for each type.

Printed questionnaires with rows of tick boxes, a pencil, a scoring card and a tabletop tally board with eight bars for the class results

Running it on a class or a customer sample

Send the 22 statements as a survey or print them with the key, and add the write-up set so everyone reports their closest profile. A class describes that class, not a market, so call the spread indicative. In a sample, cut resources at the group's median rather than at 3.5, so the higher and lower rows split the people you actually asked. Keep the background set: in a study of over 45,000 people, demographics predicted some choices better and personality others, and the authors recommend using both.¹⁵ To profile real customers rather than textbook types, start from the customer profile survey or browse more marketing survey questions.

Where critics say VALS falls short

It was built for the United States: SBI itself said the survey was written for people whose first language is American English.⁶ It relies on self-report, so it captures how people see themselves. Its scoring was proprietary, and researchers comparing it with the public-domain List of Values counted that openness among the alternative's advantages.¹⁴ And any typology is a snapshot: SRI rebuilt VALS in 1989 around psychological traits, which its team found more stable than social trends and shared values.¹

The versions you will meet in textbooks

The original VALS (1978) had nine lifestyles in four groups.⁹ The system launched in 1989, often called VALS2, has the eight types on this page, and three of them were renamed between 2002 and 2003.^{10, 11} SBI also built separate systems for other countries, because attitudes and buying connect differently across cultures: UK VALS, developed in 1995, has six core groups.^{12, 13}

Opening a class on segmentation? Warm the room up with a live poll on the weekend question: the spread of answers previews the eight types before anyone opens the self-check. Our poll-making guide shows how to share the link and watch the votes come in.

Print the questionnaire and scoring key for a class

No devices needed. Hand out the questionnaire, let everyone score themselves with the key printed at the top, then tally the class on the worksheet to see how the room spreads across the eight types.

Allow ten minutes, scoring included.

Lifestyle questionnaire

The full scoring key sits at the top, then the 22 statements, each with five boxes to tick. The optional product, write-up and background questions follow.

Download PDF

Class tally worksheet

Count how the class answered each statement, then tally how many landed closest to each of the eight types on the second sheet.

Download PDF

Three weak lifestyle statements, and stronger ones

Writing your own psychographic questions for a project? These fixes apply to any lifestyle statement. The survey question guide covers more question types.

Instead of

Do you like shopping and going out?

Ask

Most of my free time goes to sport, going out or being with friends.

Two activities in one question, and "like" measures a mood. The better version asks where free time actually goes.

Instead of

Are you a successful person?

Ask

Reaching my career or income goals is a big part of how I judge my progress.

Almost nobody answers no to being successful. Asking what someone uses to judge progress separates the motivations.

Instead of

How much money do you earn?

Ask

I have the time and money to act on what interests me.

Income questions get skipped or rounded. Resources in this framework means room to act, so ask about that.

VALS questions, answered in a line or two

Short answers to what students and marketers search for most.

What is my VALS type?

Take the free self-check on this page: 22 original statements give your closest and second-closest of the eight types, the primary and secondary type most assignments ask for. Official VALS types came only from SBI's own questionnaire, which has not been offered publicly since early 2024.⁷

What are the VALS segments?

Eight: Innovators, Thinkers, Believers, Achievers, Strivers, Experiencers, Makers and Survivors.² Six pair a motivation (ideals, achievement or self-expression) with higher or lower resources; Innovators sit above with all three motivations and Survivors below with none dominant. See all eight in one table.

What does VALS stand for?

Values and Lifestyles, originally. The owner dropped the long form in 1990 and kept VALS as a name, so today it is not an acronym.³

What is the VALS framework?

A consumer segmentation system created at SRI International that groups US adults into eight types by primary motivation and resources, so marketers can see why people buy, not only who they are.^{1, 2}

How does the VALS survey work?

The official version asked 35 agree-or-disagree statements on a four-point scale plus a few background questions, then reported a primary and a secondary type.^{5, 6} Our self-check works the same way in outline: 22 original statements on a five-point scale, averaged into three motivation scores and one resources score. The scoring key shows every step.

Who developed the VALS survey?

SRI International launched the first VALS in 1978, based on the work of consumer futurist Arnold Mitchell.⁴ A team from SRI, Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley built the current system, launched in 1989.¹ Strategic Business Insights, an SRI spin-off, ran it until it closed in 2024.⁸

Run the 22 statements with your class or customers

Open the self-check as an online survey for phones and laptops, or print the questionnaire and its scoring key before the next lesson.

Download the PDF

Segments, spending and media: surveys for the same marketing project

Customer profile survey questionsBuild segments from your own customers instead of a textbook framework.Spending habits questionnaireA student research survey on how people budget, save and spend.Media consumption surveyFind the channels each segment actually watches, reads and scrolls.Willingness to pay survey questionsTest what a target segment would pay for one product.Brand recall survey questionsCheck whether a campaign aimed at one segment was remembered.

Browse every marketing survey, or build your own in the free form builder.

How this question set was built

Written and tested by Michael Hodge, BSc Psychology (University of Wollongong). We wrote 22 original statements from the two ideas SBI published about the framework: three primary motivations, and resources built from traits such as energy, self-confidence, curiosity, novelty seeking and leadership.² None of the 35 official statements is reproduced (each question is checked against them before publishing), and the scoring rule is our own and printed in full above, so every result can be traced back to the answers behind it. It is built for learning and class discussion, not for commercial targeting. VALS is a trademark of its owner. Poll Maker has no link to, and no endorsement from, SRI International or Strategic Business Insights. The survey buttons open these same 22 statements in the Poll Maker builder.

Sources

1.SRI International. VALS: market research (history of the VALS program). https://www.sri.com/hoi/vals-market-research/
2.Strategic Business Insights. US Framework and VALS Types. Internet Archive copy of 19 April 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240419163850/https://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml
3.Strategic Business Insights. VALS Fact Sheet, August 2018. Internet Archive copy. https://web.archive.org/web/20190704083929/http://strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/academics/VALSfactsheet2018-08.pdf
4.Strategic Business Insights. About VALS. Internet Archive copy of 17 December 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091217020828/http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/about.shtml
5.Strategic Business Insights. The VALS Survey (questionnaire form). Internet Archive copy of 3 December 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231203165720/https://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/surveynew.shtml
6.Strategic Business Insights. Take the VALS Survey (introduction). Internet Archive copy of 4 October 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231004155753/https://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml
7.Strategic Business Insights. VALS survey page, after the survey was withdrawn. Internet Archive copy of 9 February 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240209234347/https://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml
8.Strategic Business Insights. Closure notice. Internet Archive copy of 11 September 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250911031242/https://strategicbusinessinsights.com/
9.SRI International VALS program (1983). SRI's Values and Lifestyle Program, excerpt in In Context 3. https://www.context.org/iclib/ic03/srivals/
10.SRI Consulting Business Intelligence. VALS Types, with the 1989 names. Internet Archive copy of 6 June 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20020606203200/http://www.sric-bi.com/VALS/types.shtml
11.SRI Consulting Business Intelligence. VALS Types, with the current names. Internet Archive copy of 3 February 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20030203031727/http://www.sric-bi.com/VALS/types.shtml
12.Strategic Business Insights. UK VALS. Internet Archive copy of 22 May 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240522062114/https://strategicbusinessinsights.com//vals/international/uk.shtml
13.Strategic Business Insights. International VALS. Internet Archive copy of 17 April 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240417192725/https://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/international/
14.Kahle, L. R., Beatty, S. E., and Homer, P. (1986). Alternative measurement approaches to consumer values: the List of Values (LOV) and Values and Life Style (VALS). Journal of Consumer Research, 13(3), 405-409. https://doi.org/10.1086/209079
15.Sandy, C. J., Gosling, S. D., and Durant, J. (2013). Predicting consumer behavior and media preferences: the comparative validity of personality traits and demographic variables. Psychology and Marketing, 30(11), 937-949. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20657
16.Akkaya, M. (2021). Understanding the impacts of lifestyle segmentation and perceived value on brand purchase intention. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 27(3), 100155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2021.100155
17.Strategic Business Insights. VALS Frequently Asked Questions, August 2010. Internet Archive copy. https://web.archive.org/web/20101130033756/http://strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/free/2010-08-VALSfaq.pdf

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VALS survey, free online: your closest two of the 8 types

Your closest two types, and what they say about you

How your result is worked out

The eight VALS types in plain English

Two things place every type: what drives you, and what you have to act on it

All eight at a glance

Doing this for a class?

The three questions teachers set

A worked answer

Key facts for the test

Old names you will still see in slides

Can you still take the official VALS survey?

Putting the eight types to work in a plan or a class study

One product, a different pitch for each type

Running it on a class or a customer sample

Where critics say VALS falls short

The versions you will meet in textbooks

All 33 questions: the self-check plus three optional sets

The 22 lifestyle statements22 questions

Link the profiles to a product3 questions

For the class write-up4 questions

About the respondent4 questions

Print the questionnaire and scoring key for a class

Lifestyle questionnaire

Class tally worksheet

Three weak lifestyle statements, and stronger ones

VALS questions, answered in a line or two

Run the 22 statements with your class or customers