VALS ( Values and Lifestyle Survey ) is a proprietary research methodology used for psychographic market segmentation . Market segmentation is designed to guide companies in tailoring their products and services in order to appeal to the people most likely to purchase them.
19-742: VALS was developed in 1978 by social scientist and consumer futurist Arnold Mitchell and his colleagues at SRI International . It was immediately embraced by advertising agencies and is currently offered as a product of SRI's consulting services division. VALS draws heavily on the work of Harvard sociologist David Riesman and psychologist Abraham Maslow . Mitchell used statistics to identify attitudinal and demographic questions that helped categorize adult American consumers into one of nine lifestyle types: survivors (4%), sustainers (7%), belongers (35%), emulators (9%), achievers (22%), I-am-me (5%), experiential (7%), societally conscious (9%), and integrated (2%). The questions were weighted using data developed from
38-472: A "very poor" tool for corporate decision-makers. The VALS Framework has also been criticized as too culturally specific for international use. The following types correspond to VALS segments of US adults based on two concepts for understanding consumers: primary motivation and resources. Arnold Mitchell Arnold Mitchell (February 18, 1918 – July 17, 1985) was a social scientist and consumer futurist who worked for SRI International and created
57-519: A noted psychographic methodology, Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles (VALS). Arnold Mitchell was the son of economist Wesley Clair Mitchell and educator Lucy Sprague Mitchell . Mitchell coauthored a report on Voluntary Simplicity with Duane Elgin that was published by SRI in June 1976. The report was expanded and republished with a survey in CoEvolution Quarterly in 1977, which was used as
76-601: A sample of 1,635 Americans and their significant others , who responded to an SRI International survey in 1980. The main dimensions of the VALS framework are resources (the vertical dimension ) and primary motivation (the horizontal dimension ). The vertical dimension segments people based on the degree to which they are innovative and have resources such as income , education , self-confidence , intelligence , leadership skills, and energy. The horizontal dimension represents primary motivations and includes three distinct types: At
95-553: A sample of 1,635 Americans and their significant others , who responded to an SRI International survey in 1980. The main dimensions of the VALS framework are resources (the vertical dimension ) and primary motivation (the horizontal dimension ). The vertical dimension segments people based on the degree to which they are innovative and have resources such as income , education , self-confidence , intelligence , leadership skills, and energy. The horizontal dimension represents primary motivations and includes three distinct types: At
114-432: Is a fundamental human need. The second dimension, Resources, reflects the ability of individuals to pursue their dominant self-orientation and includes full-range of physical, psychological, demographic, and material means such as self-confidence, interpersonal skills, inventiveness, intelligence, eagerness to buy, money, position, education, etc. According to VALS 2, a consumer purchases certain products and services because
133-432: Is a fundamental human need. The second dimension, Resources, reflects the ability of individuals to pursue their dominant self-orientation and includes full-range of physical, psychological, demographic, and material means such as self-confidence, interpersonal skills, inventiveness, intelligence, eagerness to buy, money, position, education, etc. According to VALS 2, a consumer purchases certain products and services because
152-417: Is designed to guide companies in tailoring their products and services in order to appeal to the people most likely to purchase them. VALS was developed in 1978 by social scientist and consumer futurist Arnold Mitchell and his colleagues at SRI International . It was immediately embraced by advertising agencies and is currently offered as a product of SRI's consulting services division. VALS draws heavily on
171-550: The VALS2 programme in 1978; additionally, SRI significantly revised it in 1989. VALS2 places less emphasis on activities and interests and more on a psychological base to tap relatively enduring attitudes and values. The VALS2 program has two dimensions. The first dimension, Self-orientation, determines the type of goals and behaviours that individuals will pursue, and refers to patterns of attitudes and activities which help individuals reinforce, sustain, or modify their social self-image. This
190-502: The VALS2 programme in 1978; additionally, SRI significantly revised it in 1989. VALS2 places less emphasis on activities and interests and more on a psychological base to tap relatively enduring attitudes and values. The VALS2 program has two dimensions. The first dimension, Self-orientation, determines the type of goals and behaviours that individuals will pursue, and refers to patterns of attitudes and activities which help individuals reinforce, sustain, or modify their social self-image. This
209-453: The basis the 1981 book Voluntary Simplicity . Mitchell created the Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles (VALS) psychographic methodology at SRI International in the late 1970s. VALS helps companies tailor their products and services to appeal to the people most likely to purchase them, and explains changing U.S. values and lifestyles. It was formally inaugurated as an SRI product in 1978. VALS
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#1732890820642228-545: The house. The Modernists were those who thought technology would solve all our problems. And the Cultural Creatives, consisting of two subgroups of "Greens" and "Spiritual Seekers," were people who were self-directed and interested both in developing themselves in fulfilling ways and in being of service to the larger community. According to Mitchell, this group comprised 24 percent of the American population by late 1980, and
247-455: The individual is a specific type of person. The purchase is believed to reflect a consumer's lifestyle, which is a function of self–orientation and resources. In 1991, the name VALS2 was switched back to VALS, because of brand equity . Psychographic segmentation has been criticized by well-known public opinion analyst and social scientist Daniel Yankelovich , who says psychographics are "very weak" at predicting people's purchases, making it
266-454: The individual is a specific type of person. The purchase is believed to reflect a consumer's lifestyle, which is a function of self–orientation and resources. In 1991, the name VALS2 was switched back to VALS, because of brand equity . Psychographic segmentation has been criticized by well-known public opinion analyst and social scientist Daniel Yankelovich , who says psychographics are "very weak" at predicting people's purchases, making it
285-547: The top of the rectangle are the Innovators , who have such high resources that they could have any of the three primary motivations. At the bottom of the rectangle are the Survivors, who live complacently and within their means without a strong primary motivation of the types listed above. The VALS Framework gives more details about each of the groups. Researchers faced some problems with the VALS method, and in response, SRI developed
304-443: The top of the rectangle are the Innovators , who have such high resources that they could have any of the three primary motivations. At the bottom of the rectangle are the Survivors, who live complacently and within their means without a strong primary motivation of the types listed above. The VALS Framework gives more details about each of the groups. Researchers faced some problems with the VALS method, and in response, SRI developed
323-462: The work of Harvard sociologist David Riesman and psychologist Abraham Maslow . Mitchell used statistics to identify attitudinal and demographic questions that helped categorize adult American consumers into one of nine lifestyle types: survivors (4%), sustainers (7%), belongers (35%), emulators (9%), achievers (22%), I-am-me (5%), experiential (7%), societally conscious (9%), and integrated (2%). The questions were weighted using data developed from
342-516: Was subsequently called "one of the ten top market research breakthroughs of the 1980s" by Advertising Age magazine. In the VALS study, Mitchell identified three major values groups in society: the Traditionalists, the Modernists and the Cultural Creatives. The Traditionalists, as he saw them, were those who wanted to return to the 1950s, with mom in the kitchen and the white picket fence around
361-540: Was the fastest growing values group in America. Mitchell coined the term "Cultural Creatives", which was popularized by Paul Ray and Sherrie Anderson in their 2000 book, Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing The World . Mitchell's earlier work identifying Cultural Creatives is not acknowledged in this work. VALS VALS ( Values and Lifestyle Survey ) is a proprietary research methodology used for psychographic market segmentation . Market segmentation
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