Abstract: Embodiments of the invention include an electronic processing system for determining states of existence for individuals or groups of individuals, or both. The system incorporates cognitive, psychological, and perceptual principles. The system includes a mechanism for obtaining input variables; one or more processors, a processing engine with one or more processing units for re-parameterizing input variables to graded category variables to accomplish functions such as human value characterization and grouping by similarities, a perceptual schema database, and an output generator that produces structured data.