VALS framework is an U.S. classification system based on measurements of psychological traits, owned by Strategic Business Insight, a consulting firm. It helps companies to segment the market through dividing U.S. adults into eight groups by two dimensions: consumer motivation (discrete: ideals, achievement, and self-expression) and resources (continuous: high to low), as depicted below.
| High resource level due to personality traits and demographics | innovator | |||||
| motivation is affected by the levels of resources | principle matters | thinker | relative success | achiever | activity, variety, and risk | experiencer |
| believer | striver | maker | ||||
| Low resource level due to personality traits and demographics | survivor | |||||
Examples of artists in each of the eight groups:
- innovator: artists who are confident in selling their works with millions of dollars (rich in physical and psychological resources)
- thinker/achiever/experiencer: artists of classic art, modest to high resources
- believer/striver/maker: artists of street art, modest to low resources
- survivor: artists with very limited physical or psychological resources
Yet, not every artist belongs to just one group. For example, the anonymous artist Banksy may belong to innovator and maker at the same time (though, he is said to be a British, not American). Thus, companies shall be aware when applying this framework because consumer motivation may not always be tied to resource levels.