Around the world, people espouse the importance of different values – the abstract ideals that matter to us as guiding principles in our lives – such as equality, freedom, helpfulness, or the environment. These are widespread ideals that people use to justify their own attitudes and actions. Yet, there is controversy over the extent to which values really matter. This presentation highlights evidence that values matter, but their role is complex. To introduce this complexity, we tour two decades of research on how values relate to behavior and are represented in memory. We then consider research probing the effects of introspecting about our values and evidence pointing to the importance of understanding mental representations of values. Together, this evidence shows that the role of values in human social cognition is deep and nuanced.
Join at: imt.lu/sagrestia