The question that I pose in my title of this blog post asks if the public relations profession will become more hard-science based in its practices – meaning, will public relations professionals be asked not only to know what messages and strategies to implement in a campaign or research study, but be able to understand how these elements affect the brain? I do believe that public relations is heading towards this direction.
Why do I say this? Well, some of the major hub sciences (ex. psychology, sociology, communications, etc.) are usually the leaders in current trends and research lines, and one area that seems to have jumped on board with neuroscience is Marketing. It appears that neuromarketing is a developing and young field of study. A recent article from Scientific American discusses how marketing professionals and scientists will be able to see how the brains of consumers react while purchasing a product. Neuroscience is a dynamic discipline, and it is definitely prominent in Psychology. My mom‘s area of specialty in Psychology is Neuroscience, and has recently published her second edition to her book: “Discovering Biological Psychology.”
What public relations professionals need to do is see what is happening in the marketing profession, and recognize that this is a huge opportunity for the discipline. This actually came up at the CERC Training session at the CDC last week – they are currently working on studies where they look to see how the brain reacts to specific crisis communication messages, and how communicators can adapt their messages to make sure that they are the most effective.
This is very exciting research, and I am sure that we are going to see this coming into play in Public relations in the next couple of years. I have always enjoyed science, and I think that this just shows how interdisciplinary our profession is getting. Not only are public relations professionals have to be aware of what is going on in communication, business, health, etc. – but we have to make sure that we are keeping up with the hard sciences as well to see if we can make a bridge between their field and ours. The key is of course – whoever can discover the concrete elements and be able to predict what the brain will do next – will hit the jackpot and make a name for themselves in the scientific community.
So, it looks like if Neuroscience PR becomes a young emerging area in Public relations, I am going to have to brush up on my neuroscience and make sure that I can identify all of the elements of the brain correctly (I had to do that for my Bio Psych class in my undergrad).
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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