How MPTI Measures
We publish exactly how this test is designed and scored. See for yourself what we measure — and what we don't.
1. What do we measure?
MPTI looks at political orientation along four distinct axes. Economy (how should wealth be shared — Equality vs. Market), Diplomacy (how should we live in the world — World vs. Nation), Civil (individual or state, which comes first — Liberty vs. Authority), and Society (where should society be headed — Progress vs. Tradition). This four-axis framing follows the standard structure used across established political tests and political-science research; what is distinctly MPTI is not the axes themselves but the typing, the compatibility model, and the nothing-stored design. The two poles of each axis are different values, not better or worse ones; your four-letter type code shows which way you lean on each axis.
2. How is it scored?
You answer 60 statements on a five-point scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). For each axis, your 15 answers combine into a position score between 0 and 100. About half of the statements agree with one pole and half with the other; we average each direction separately and then combine them — so a habit of agreeing with everything (acquiescence bias) can't push your score to one side. Statements also carry weights by their nature (1.5 for statements about an axis's core value, 1.0 for general statements, 0.75 for concrete policy examples).
3. How is your type decided?
Each axis always resolves to the closer of its two poles — above 50 means the first letter, below 50 the second — so your four letters are always one of the 16 types. Just as MBTI assigns a letter even on near-middle scores, MPTI gives you a conclusion about which way you lean, while the per-axis percentage on the result page shows exactly how strong that lean is (the closer to 50%, the more moderate). In the very rare case of an exact 50–50 tie, the poles are assigned alternately by axis order, so an all-tied answer sheet never lands on a code that reads as one political camp across the board.
4. How is value compatibility calculated?
Research on assortative mating in political psychology (e.g., Alford, Hatemi et al., 'The Politics of Mate Choice', The Journal of Politics, 2011) suggests that differences on identity-near 'cultural' axes — Society, Civil, Diplomacy — shape how relationships feel far more than economic differences, which tend to be negotiable. In other words, the four axes are not fully unrelated: the cultural axes tend to move together, and MPTI's compatibility reflects exactly that — a simple rule-based indicator that weights mismatches on those three axes heavily and the Economy axis lightly. It describes how similarly two types think — never which type is better. A different type isn't wrong; it's something to learn from. Within the same tier, the 'most like / most unlike you' ordering on your result page is further refined using your per-axis percentages.
5. How do we stay politically neutral?
The statements never mention parties, politicians, or current controversies — only universal value propositions. Statements and type descriptions are reviewed so that neither pole reads as superior, and every pole's description pairs a strength with a gentle caveat. Across all 13 languages we serve, an automated check continuously blocks real party and politician names and poll-style metric wording.
6. About the historical figures
The figure cards on result pages are a playful exercise in mapping real people's public records onto the four axes — not an academic classification. Figures are selected for global recognition, being deceased (as a rule, 30+ years — with rare exceptions for broadly uncontroversial global figures; currently Mandela and Lee Kuan Yew), excluding anyone remembered for tyranny, massacre, or war crimes, excluding contemporary politicians, and keeping every type equally respected.
7. Limitations of this test
MPTI is a short self-report indicator. Your result is a snapshot of how you think at the moment you answer; it can change as time passes or your concerns shift. It is not an academically validated instrument and does not substitute for your own political judgment. Many contexts — region, generation, specific policy conditions — are beyond what 60 statements can capture. Please treat your result as a starting point for conversation.
8. Nothing stored · not an opinion poll
All answers and scoring happen entirely inside your browser and are never sent to or stored on a server. MPTI is not an election opinion poll in any jurisdiction, and since individual responses are not collected, no statistics about respondents' political orientation are produced. See the Privacy Policy for details.