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Measuring Effects of Metaphor in a Dynamic Opinion Landscape

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  • Paul H Thibodeau
  • Lera Boroditsky

Abstract

Metaphors pervade discussions of critical issues, making up as much as 10–20% of natural discourse. Recent work has suggested that these conventional and systematic metaphors influence the way people reason about the issues they describe. For instance, previous work has found that people were more likely to want to fight back against a crime beast by increasing the police force but more likely to want to diagnose and treat a crime virus through social reform. Here, we report the results of three norming tasks and two experiments that reveal a shift in the overall landscape of opinion on the topic of crime. Importantly, we find that the metaphors continue to have an influence on people’s reasoning about crime. Our results and analyses highlight the importance of up-to-date opinion norms and carefully controlled materials in metaphor research.

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  • Paul H Thibodeau & Lera Boroditsky, 2015. "Measuring Effects of Metaphor in a Dynamic Opinion Landscape," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0133939
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133939
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paul H Thibodeau & Lera Boroditsky, 2013. "Natural Language Metaphors Covertly Influence Reasoning," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(1), pages 1-7, January.
    2. Paul H Thibodeau & Lera Boroditsky, 2011. "Metaphors We Think With: The Role of Metaphor in Reasoning," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(2), pages 1-11, February.
    3. Gerard J Steen & W Gudrun Reijnierse & Christian Burgers, 2014. "When Do Natural Language Metaphors Influence Reasoning? A Follow-Up Study to Thibodeau and Boroditsky (2013)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-25, December.
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    1. Legein Thomas & Vandeleene Audrey & Randour François & Heyvaert Pauline & Perrez Julien & Reuchamps Min, 2018. "Framing the Basic Income: An Experimental Study of How Arguments and Metaphors Influence Individuals’ Opinion Formation," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Antonio Crego & José Ramón Yela & Rita Ozores-Pérez & Pablo Riesco-Matías & María Ángeles Gómez-Martínez, 2022. "Eudaimonic and Uncertainty Metaphors About Life are Associated with Meaningfulness, Experiential Avoidance, Mental Health and Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 4119-4146, December.

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