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Accession Number:
AD1096961
Title:
When Do Natural Language Metaphors Influence Reasoning A Follow Up Study to Thibodeau and Boroditsky (2013)
Corporate Author:
VU University Amsterdam, Department of Language and Communication Amsterdam Netherlands
Report Date:
2014-12-09
Abstract:
In this article, we offer a critical view of Thibodeau and Boroditsky who report an effect of metaphorical framing on readers preference for political measures after exposure to a short text on the increase of crime in a fictitious town when crime was metaphorically presented as a beast, readers became more enforcement-oriented than when crime was metaphorically framed as a virus. We argue that the design of the study has left room for alternative explanations. We report four experiments comprising a follow-up study, remedying several shortcomings in the original design while collecting more encompassing sets of data. Our experiments include three additions to the original studies 1 a non-metaphorical control condition, which is contrasted to the two metaphorical framing conditions used by Thibodeau and Boroditsky, 2 text versions that do not have the other, potentially supporting metaphors of the original stimulus texts, 3 a pre-exposure measure of political preference Experiments 12. We do not find a metaphorical framing effect but instead show that there is another process at play across the board which presumably has to do with simple exposure to textual information. Reading about crime increases peoples preference for enforcement irrespective of metaphorical frame or metaphorical support of the frame. These findings suggest the existence of boundary conditions under which metaphors can have differential effects on reasoning. Thus, our four experiments provide converging evidence raising questions about when metaphors do and do not influence reasoning.
Descriptive Note:
Journal Article - Open Access
Supplementary Note:
PLOS One , 01 Jan 0001, 01 Jan 0001, Sponsored by IARPA program: Metaphor.
Pages:
0025
Distribution Statement:
Approved For Public Release;
File Size:
0.18MB
