About SELVET – methodology and data sources

What is SELVET?

SELVET is a free personality test developed in Norway to give multidimensional self-insight. Rather than reducing people to a single type or a single category, SELVET combines several established psychological frameworks to describe personality, motivation, values and thinking style.

This page explains how the analyses are built, which data they draw on, and which limitations apply.

Psychological frameworks

SELVET rests on the following foundations:

Big Five (OCEAN)

Personality traits are measured using the Big Five model:

• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

The items are inspired by IPIP (the International Personality Item Pool), an open and widely used research library in personality psychology.

Motivation (Enneagram-inspired)

Motivation is mapped through questions about:

• inner drives
• fear and stress response
• coping strategies

This is not clinical Enneagram diagnostics, but a structured model for exploring motivation and psychological patterns.

Values (Schwartz Value Theory)

Values are analyzed on the basis of Schwartz’s universal theory of basic values, which is used in international social and psychological research. The model describes ten basic values, among them:

• self-direction
• security
• achievement
• universalist concerns

Data sources and modeling

Use of open datasets

SELVET uses open, structured datasets as a basis for model development, including public data collections used in academic and analytical settings (among them via Kaggle).

These datasets are used for:

• calibrating scales
• consistency checks
• simulating reference profiles

The datasets are not used as a verdict on individuals, but as a statistical and structural starting point.

Reference profiles and characters

Profiles of well-known characters from fiction, history and popular culture are simulated analyses based on:

• publicly available information
• narrative and biographical material
• psychological interpretation within the frameworks above

These profiles are intended as teaching references, not as claims about the actual personality of real people.

Limitations and responsibility

• SELVET is a tool for self-insight and reflection.
• It is not a diagnostic or therapeutic instrument.
• The results represent probability-based profiles, not objective truths.
• For clinical assessment, a qualified health professional should be consulted.

Transparency and further development

SELVET is built on openness as a principle:

• the methodology is explained explicitly
• the frameworks are named
• the data sources are described

The platform is developed continuously on the basis of:

• new research
• user data (aggregated and anonymized)
• professional feedback