Not what you say you value. What actually guides your decisions when things get tough.
Would you sacrifice income for creative freedom? Security for adventure? Your ambition for the group's well-being? The answers reveal your value hierarchy. And that hierarchy is surprisingly stable — and surprisingly different from your neighbor's.
Shalom Schwartz (1992) did something no one had achieved before: he identified a set of values recognized across all human cultures studied and demonstrated they organize in a circular structure with predictable rules of compatibility and conflict. Adjacent values are compatible; opposite ones conflict.
The AVI-25 (Afini Values Inventory) is Bilbao AI's own instrument that operationalizes Schwartz's 10 values with original situational items. Instead of asking "is security important to you?", it presents real decisions: "When you have to choose between a stable job and a creative but uncertain one, what do you tend to do?"
Independence of thought, novelty, challenge. The openness-to-change pole — those who prioritize these values need to explore, not to be told what to do.
Pleasure, personal success, status. The self-enhancement pole — those who prioritize these values want efficiency, results, competitive advantage.
Stability, respect for norms, customs. The conservation pole — those who prioritize these values need predictability, order, continuity.
Well-being of close ones, global justice. The self-transcendence pole — those who prioritize these values are uncomfortable with recommendations that ignore impact on others.
Schwartz's circular structure replicates across 80+ countries. Schwartz & Cieciuch (2022) validated the PVQ-RR across 49 cultural groups (N = 53,472) with 32 language versions. Multidimensional scaling analysis perfectly reproduced the theorized order of values around the circle.
The AVI-25 uses original situational items based on the same theory. Public theoretical basis; Bilbao AI proprietary items. Instrument in empirical validation phase — Schwartz's theoretical structure is beyond doubt.
Key references
Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1-65. · Schwartz, S. H. & Cieciuch, J. (2022). Measuring the refined theory of individual values in 49 cultural groups.
Values don't make AI "tell you what you want to hear." They make it understand where you're speaking from. When facing a dilemma, AI adjusts its analytical framework to your motivational hierarchy — presenting options with emphasis that reflects what truly matters to you.
"There are arguments for and against changing jobs. On one hand, the new position offers a better salary. On the other, you'd lose the stability of your current employment."
"With your value profile (high Self-Direction, high Stimulation, low Security), the question isn't whether the salary compensates — it's whether the new project gives you the autonomy and challenge you need to not get bored in three months. Stability was never your engine."
The first response is objective but irrelevant. The second understands which questions matter to you.
25 real situations. 5 minutes. And AI will understand what you prioritize when you have to choose — without you having to explain it every time.