Stunning Results [COMM 203]

I recently took the VALS survey, and I was simply astounded by the results I received. VALS is a consulting and research company that looks at psychological and demographic information for consumer behavior. I took the VALS survey, and my results showed that. my primary type is Striver, and my secondary type is Achiever. I found this to be a reasonable result by the VALS type names, that is until I viewed the information describing the types. Here is the information for my primary VALS type, Striver:

"Strivers are trendy and fun loving. Because they are motivated by achievement, Strivers are concerned about the opinions and approval of others. Money defines success for Strivers, who don't have enough of it to meet their desires. They favor stylish products that emulate the purchases of people with greater material wealth. Many Strivers see themselves as having a job rather than a career, and a lack of skills and focus often prevents them from moving ahead. Strivers are active consumers because shopping is both a social activity and an opportunity to demonstrate to peers their ability to buy. As consumers, they are as impulsive as their financial circumstance will allow."

This is basically the complete opposite of my personality, beliefs, values, and behaviors. I am in no way considered to be trendy, and I care very little about the "opinions and approval of others." I do not define success by monetary means, and I spend very little money on products. I would never consider myself to be an active consumer, and I despise shopping and spending money on unnecessary items. Almost every t-shirt I own is from an underground band that I support. I honestly do not know the last time I set foot in a mall or department store. I do not feel that this description fits me whatsoever, so then I preceded to look at the explanation for my secondary VALS type, Achiever:

"Motivated by the desire for achievement, Achievers have goal-oriented lifestyles and a deep commitment to career and family. Their social lives reflect this focus and are structured around family, their place of worship, and work. Achievers live conventional lives, are politically conservative, and respect authority and the status quo. They value consensus, predictability, and stability over risk, intimacy, and self-discovery. With many wants and needs, Achievers are active in the consumer marketplace. Image is important to Achievers; they favor established, prestige products and services that demonstrate success to their peers. Because of their busy lives, they are often interested in a variety of time-saving devices."

Once again, I feel that this does not describe my consumption habits or personality well, but there are a few things that are true about me within this description. I am motivated by a "desire for achievement" and I do lead a goal oriented lifestyle. I do value consensus, predictability and stability, but those are the only true pieces of information that describe me. I am agnostic and in no way politically conservative. I am very inactive in the consumer marketplace, and as I stated before I place little value on image and prestige.

I feel that in my case, this survey was very inaccurate at examining and predicting my consumer behavior. I spend very little money compared to my peers while this survey mentioned I was very inclined to be "as impulsive as [my] financial circumstance will allow." These were very stunning results, which at first I thought made sense, that is until I looked up the descriptions. I decided to take the survey over again today to make sure I did not accidentally answer opposite due to a reading error, but I still came out with the same results.