Understanding What Really Drives People: Why We Use the PVQ

Research and marketing campaigns often segment populations based on demographic characteristics such as age, gender, or income. While these categories can be useful, particularly when addressing the needs of underrepresented groups, they do not always provide the most meaningful insight into behaviour.

Demographics tell us who people are. They do not tell us what motivates them. Two individuals of the same age, gender, and income can hold very different values, priorities, and worldviews, and may therefore respond very differently to the same message or intervention.

This is where the Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ) becomes invaluable.

Developed by social psychologist Shalom Schwartz, the PVQ is a robust, widely validated instrument for measuring underlying human values. These include dimensions such as security, conformity, achievement, benevolence, and self-direction. By identifying the values that guide individuals’ decisions, the PVQ allows us to better understand motivations and predict behavioural tendencies.

In our work, this approach has proven particularly powerful. Rather than relying solely on surface-level segmentation, the PVQ enables us to identify meaningful value-based personas. These insights help us design more targeted, nuanced, and effective strategies.

For example, using the environmental version of the PVQ (E-PVQ), we found that individuals with similar demographics and similar levels of environmental concern still differed significantly in how they chose to act. Those primarily motivated by enjoyment and social connection were more likely to engage in community-based activities such as volunteering. In contrast, those motivated by broader systemic change were more inclined to engage politically, such as by signing petitions or supporting policy initiatives.

These distinctions matter.

While a campaign may share a common pro-environmental goal, the framing and messaging must resonate with different intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. A single, uniform message is rarely sufficient to reach diverse value profiles effectively.

In short, the PVQ provides us with a reliable framework to move beyond generic messaging. By understanding what truly drives people, we can design interventions and campaigns that are more precise, more engaging, and ultimately more impactful.