Why values matter – how public relations professionals can draw on moral foundations theory.

This paper will explain why corporate public relations practitioners need to draw on the role values play in how people weigh up issues, brands, and claims—and how this knowledge can lead to more powerful and resonant communications. Understanding the role of values in driving attitudes and behaviors is crucial for four reasons: 1 The new polarized, politicized, and value-driven public information environment requires corporate communicators and other public relations professionals to understand how people’s identity and values hardwire their decisions and actions. 2 In this environment, information alone is not enough to change opinion. Facts and figures are often dismissed or are rejected when they go against people’s sense of identity or existing values, making connecting to deep-seated motivations crucial. 3 Communicators needs to explore what is in the background of people’s opinions—not just the foreground. They must go beyond an over-reliance on rational responses to direct questions and an obsession with dry metrics. Mapping out rational opinions against nonconscious values unearths more textured insights and communication strategies. 4 The communications sector needs to play a rapid catch-up game with marketing, which grasp the role of motivation and identity in informing people’s attitudes, and are pioneering more effective methods to get a rounded perspective on how we act. Coming out of psychology, moral foundations theory, with its focus on how people’s core values inform attitudes and decisions, provides a powerful analytic and interpretative framework to understand and navigate this new polarized and political environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]