articlePLoS ONEFeb 23, 2011GOLD OA

Metaphors We Think With: The Role of Metaphor in Reasoning

Stanford University

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefdoajpubmed

Abstract

The way we talk about complex and abstract ideas is suffused with metaphor. In five experiments, we explore how these metaphors influence the way that we reason about complex issues and forage for further information about them. We find that even the subtlest instantiation of a metaphor (via a single word) can have a powerful influence over how people attempt to solve social problems like crime and how they gather information to make "well-informed" decisions. Interestingly, we find that the influence of the metaphorical framing effect is covert: people do not recognize metaphors as influential in their decisions; instead they point to more "substantive" (often numerical) information as the motivation for…

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1,086
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Authors

2

Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Metaphor
  • Epistemology
  • Cognitive science
  • Psychology
  • Philosophy
  • Linguistics
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Peace, Justice and strong institutions
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