8values Political Ideological Value Test: In-depth analysis of your multidimensional political thought portrait
Explore 8values political tests to understand your multidimensional political stance and values. This article will introduce in detail the operating principles of 8values, the four core axes, and the interpretation of 52 ideological types, and provide critical analysis to help you conduct deep self-awareness. Visit the 8Values Quiz official website to start your journey of political and ideological exploration.
In the digital age, online testing has become a popular way for people to explore themselves and understand complex worlds. Among them, the 8values political test has gained widespread attention worldwide thanks to its unique multi-dimensional political positioning method. It not only provides a perspective beyond the traditional single political spectrum, but also helps users explore their political beliefs more carefully and visualize them as easy-to-understand graphical results.
This article will provide you with an in-depth analysis of everything about the 8values political test, from its origins and core mechanisms to the four axes, eight values, and 52 ideological results, and conduct critical analysis to help you fully understand this tool.
How to test it? Enter the 8Values test official website address and click "Start Test" to enter the answer page. By completing 70 multiple-choice questions, you will receive a detailed interpretation of your ideological and political tendencies.
What is the 8 values political test? Principle and Origin
8 values are essentially a political value tendency questionnaire designed to quantify users’ percentage scores on eight different political values. The test provides a series of statements to the user, and the user answers from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" based on his own point of view. Each answer slightly affects the final score, and the final result is compared to the maximum possible score for each value, resulting in a percentage.
The test started as a static web project based on GitHub, with its core function being to quantify users' political values through 70 carefully designed questions . Its success and popularity have spawned many derivative versions, such as 9Axes, PolitiScales, 8D-PolComp, etc. These versions, while retaining the core framework, extend functions and dimensions, and even take data collection as one of its core functions.
Unlike some tests that only offer the “Agree/Disagree” binary option (like the earlier political compass), 8values offers the “ Neutral ” option. This design provides an outlet for "scientific thinkers" who are difficult to answer simple answers to general statements. Overall, the problem setting of 8values is considered an improvement to the political compass test .
If you are curious about your political tendencies and want to understand your initial political values and ideology, you can visit the 8values official portal for political testing to start the test.
In-depth analysis: 8values The four core axes and eight values of political test
The core of the 8values test lies in its multidimensional framework, which divides the political spectrum into four independent axes , each representing a set of opposing values. This structure is designed to provide users with a more detailed political positioning than traditional two-dimensional models. These axes are: economy, diplomacy, citizenship and society.
Economic Axis: Equality vs. Market
The economic axis measures users' position on economic policies.
- Equality : Respondents who hold higher equality scores believe that the economy should distribute value equally among the people. They tend to support progressive taxation, social welfare projects, and in extreme cases support socialism.
- Markets : Respondents who hold higher market scores believe that the economy should focus on rapid growth . They tend to support low taxation, privatization, deregulation, and in extreme cases laissez-faire capitalism.
Diplomacy Axis: Nation vs. World
The diplomatic axis measures users’ attitudes toward inter-state relations and global politics.
- Nation : Respondents who hold higher national scores are patriots and nationalists . They generally believe that every country should govern independently, value military strength, sovereignty, and may support aggressive foreign policy and even oppose immigration.
- Globe : Respondents who hold higher world scores are cosmopolitans and globalists . They argue that all human members of the world should participate in politics together, emphasize peaceful diplomacy, international cooperation and integration, and support the establishment of a world government or international organization in extreme cases.
Citizen Axis: Freedom vs. Authority
The Citizen Axis is designed to measure users’ perceptions of the balance between individual freedom and state power.
- Liberty : Respondents who hold higher freedom scores believe in strong civil liberties and oppose state intervention in personal life. It is worth noting that this refers specifically to civil liberties, not economic liberties.
- Authority : Respondents who hold higher authority scores believe in strong state power . They tend to support state intervention in personal life, government surveillance, and in extreme cases support censorship or authoritarianism.
Social Axis: Tradition vs. Progress
The social axis measures users’ attitudes toward social change and values.
- Tradition : Respondents who hold higher traditional scores believe in traditional values and strict moral codes . They are often associated with religious beliefs, supporting the maintenance of social status quo or restoration of old order.
- Progress : Respondents who hold higher progress scores believe in social change and rationalism . They are often associated with secularism, environmentalism, and support for scientific and technological research, and may also emphasize LGBTQ+ rights.
These axes and values together form the basis of your political portrait. To get a more intuitive understanding of your position on these axes, you can check out the 8values Political Spectrum Analysis page .
8values Test results interpretation: Your political ideological portrait
After completing 70 questions, the 8 values test will present your scores on eight values as a percentage and visually presented through four independent compass charts. For example, "Economy: 75% Equality vs 25% Market". This intuitive design makes complex eight-dimensional results easy to understand.
In addition to percentage scores, the test will match a specific political ideological tag based on your score, such as "liberal socialist" or "social liberal". 8values provide up to 52 political and ideological labels , covering diverse positions such as left-wing extremist thoughts such as anarchy communism, Marxism, Stalinism, to right-wing extremist thoughts such as liberalism, conservatism, fascism, Nazism, anarchy capitalism, and centrists. You can visit the 8values Ideology page to view detailed introductions of all 52 ideologies.
8values Limitations and critical thinking of political tests
Despite the popularity of the 8values test, it also faces multiple criticisms as a rigorous tool of political psychology.
Generalized Problems and Ambiguity
One of the main problems with the test is that its statements are too general and vague to capture the subtleties of the thought. For example, questions like “government intervention is a threat to the economy” or “our national values should be spread as much as possible” have a lack of specific context, type or degree that makes it difficult for people with critical thinking to give simple “agree” or “disagree” answers. When sharing his test experience, one user mentioned that as a conservative Christian, he often chooses to "slightly agree/disagree" or "neutral" rather than extreme positions because of the nuances of the problem. This ambiguity may cause the results to fail to accurately reflect the subject's complex real position.
Stereotyping and misuse of labels
Critics argue that the 8values test reduces complex political theories and ideologies to “ comic-style ” labels rather than encouraging “information-rich” thinking. For example, connecting high-scoring "progressive" with "atheists" or "optimists" is considered a kind of "stupid ignorance." This oversimplification of ideology can not only mislead users, but also reflects the inherent flaws in testing when translating abstract values into concrete political labels.
Cultural and regional prejudice
The test was also pointed out that there is a U.S.-centric hypothesis . For example, support for universal health insurance is widely regarded as neutral or mainstream in Western Europe, but may be labeled as “extreme” in this test. This cultural and geographical difference suggests that certain problems tested and presupposed ideological models may not accurately reflect political reality in a non-Western or non-US context.
Disconnection between data and intellectual background
Some researchers questioned the fundamental design of the test, believing that it assumed that the subjects had no previous educational background and placed "biased equally with insightful views ." This method of quantifying fuzzy views through numbers is criticized as a "numerical behavioral fallacy", believing that numbers cannot reveal the entire truth in matters such as describing political beliefs that require maximization of understanding through "textual propositions" and "qualitative evidence". Therefore, test results should be considered as an inspiring “estimation” rather than a rigorous academic diagnosis.
8values and the Political Compass: The Evolution of Multidimensional Political Spectrum
8values Tests are often compared to earlier and more well-known political compass . Both attempt to transcend traditional uniaxial left-right spectra, but there are significant differences in design, scope and methodology.
The Political Compass uses a concise biaxial model : economy (left-right) and citizenship (authoritarian-freedom). It aims to reveal that a person’s economic perspective and his perception of personal freedom are not always linearly related.
By contrast, 8values creates a four-axis and eight-value model by breaking down and expanding the two core axes of the political compass, and introduces a completely new dimension of diplomacy and sociality. This move to increase the number of axis lines is seen as an attempt to provide a more detailed political portrait. For example, TLDR News notes that the 8values problem has improved overall and provides a “no tendency” option that the political compass does not have.
However, this refinement axis also presents new challenges. When the test tied "nationalism" to "aggressive diplomacy", did it simply replace a large and vague "box" with a few small and vague "boxes"? This approach may bring about the illusion of "false precision" that gives a more precise impression, but may in fact be just another oversimplification of complex reality.
Recommended and application scenarios of other multidimensional political testing tools
In addition to 8 values, there are many similar online political testing tools that can help you conduct multi-dimensional political stance assessments.
- 9Axes : Expand to 9 analytical dimensions based on 8 values, adding axes such as "secular-religion" and "dispersed-concentration" to further refine ideological classification.
- PolitiScales : Analyses through 12 axes (such as "revolution-reform", "protection-exploitation"), are particularly suitable for evaluating radical political stances.
- The Political Compass : A classic two-dimensional model that locates ideology through graphical coordinates, with intuitive results but fewer dimensions.
- SapplyTest : Focus on policy preferences rather than abstract values, such as specific taxation or environmental policy choices.
- LeftValues/RightValues : A derivative version of a specific political spectrum focusing on left-wing and right-wing ideological analysis, respectively.
- 8valuesCN : A Chinese adaptive version developed based on the standard version framework, and the problem statement is more in line with the Chinese context.
These tools each have their own focus and can serve as complementary tools to analyze your political stance more comprehensively through multi-dimensional cross-validation. 8values Political testing is suitable for academic research or personal cognitive scenarios, helping users understand their own political spectrum positioning through quantitative methods.
Master your political values and start a journey of in-depth thinking
8values Political Testing is a popular online tool that successfully translates complex political theories into personalized experiences that are easy to understand and share. Through the multi-dimensional model, it transcends the limitations of traditional single axis to a certain extent, providing users with an effective starting point for self-reflection and exploring the relationship between their values and political beliefs.
However, it is important to look at the outcome critically . The generality of its problem design, the stereotype of ideological labels, and the neglect of the subject's intellectual background all indicate that its results should be regarded as an inspiring "estimation" rather than a rigorous academic diagnosis.
Ultimately, the real value of such tests may not lie in the “answers” it provides, but in the “problems” it raises about politics, values, and self-perception. They prompt users to think “Why do I have such a point of view?” and reflect on their position in a multidimensional space. The 8values test successfully reflects our age’s desire for simplification, visualization, and identity, but the labels and percentages it provides are only the starting point, not the end point, to understand complex political reality.
If you are interested in the exploration of political ideas, you might as well visit the official 8values website to start your test and learn more in-depth insights through the 8values blog .