The scope and consequences of metaphoric thinking: Using individual differences in metaphor usage to understand how metaphor functions

Feasibility and efficacy of a digital resilience training: A pilot study of the strengths-based training RESIST

Background

Work-related stress is a risk factor for a number of adverse health and work outcomes. Resilience trainings are a promising approach for adequately dealing with work stress and keeping employees mentally healthy. However, results of previous resilience trainings have been heterogeneous, ranging from null findings to large effects. Existing digital resilience interventions show a lack of consistency in terms of an underlying theoretical framework and methods used to foster resilience. Positive Appraisal Style Theory of Resilience offers an innovative conceptualization of resilience. Strengths-based cognitive behavioral therapy is a corresponding therapeutically method reflecting resilience as a resource-oriented process of dealing with stress. Based on this background, a new hybrid web-and app-based digital resilience intervention for employees named RESIST was developed.

Objective

The first aim of the study was to investigate the feasibility of the newly developed training RESIST regarding its usability, user behavior, user experience and motivation to use. Second, the study sought to explore preliminary effects of the intervention on reducing stress and enhancing resilience by conducting a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Methods

The feasibility study was conducted in three phases. First, the usability of the app was investigated in a pre-test with five participants using a thinking-aloud method. Second, the preliminary efficacy of the training was examined in a pilot randomized controlled trial. A sample of 30 employees were randomized either to receive the resilience training (n = 15) or to be member of a control group (n = 15). The primary outcome was measuring perceived stress. Secondary outcomes included measures of resilience and depressive symptoms. Third, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with six participants of the resilience training group on training content, motivation for use, and user experience.

Results

Overall, results indicate that RESIST can be a feasible training for resilience promotion and stress reduction with high user satisfaction. Analysis of covariance showed that, relative to controls, participants who received RESIST reported significantly lower stress scores at post-intervention (F1,27 = 16.91, p < 0.001; Cohen's d = 1.57; 95 % CI 0.71-2.43) than controls. Significant differences, with moderate-to-large effect sizes, were also detected for general resilience and various resilience factors.

Conclusions

Results are promising and provide hope that a hybrid web- and app-based resilience intervention based on strengths-based cognitive behavioral therapy can have a positive impact on dealing adequately with stress and improve resilience of employees.

Linking metaphor comprehension with analogical reasoning: Evidence from typical development and autism spectrum disorder

We examined the relationship between metaphor comprehension and verbal analogical reasoning in young adults who were either typically developing (TD) or diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The ASD sample was highly educated and high in verbal ability, and closely matched to a subset of TD participants on age, gender, educational background, and verbal ability. Additional TD participants with a broader range of abilities were also tested. Each participant solved sets of verbal analogies and metaphors in verification formats, allowing measurement of both accuracy and reaction times. Measures of individual differences in vocabulary, verbal working memory, and autistic traits were also obtained. Accuracy for both the verbal analogy and the metaphor task was very similar across the ASD and matched TD groups. However, reaction times on both tasks were longer for the ASD group. Additionally, stronger correlations between verbal analogical reasoning and working memory capacity in the ASD group indicated that processing verbal analogies was more effortful for them. In the case of both groups, accuracy on the metaphor and analogy tasks was correlated. A mediation analysis revealed that after controlling for working memory capacity, the inter-task correlation could be accounted for by the mediating variable of vocabulary knowledge, suggesting that the primary common mechanisms linking the two tasks involve language skills.

Controlled or automatic? Influence of congruency proportion and stimulus-onset asynchrony on the brightness-valence and spatial-valence metaphoric congruency effects

Whether a cognitive process is operated automatically or in a controlled manner has been a long-standing question in cognitive psychology. However, this issue has not been investigated in the activation of metaphoric association. A primed word valence judgement task is often used to test the activation of metaphoric association, in which participants first see a prime (bright/dark square or fixation point moving up or down from the centre of the screen) and then make a valence judgement to a target word. Metaphoric congruency effect occurs when participants make faster judgements to the target with valence being matched with the prime (good followed bright/top prime) than being mismatched with the prime (good followed dark/bottom prime). In the present two experiments, we manipulated prime-target stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) and proportion of metaphorically congruent trials (congruency proportion) to tease apart the effects of automatic and controlled activation of brightness-valence and spatial-valence metaphoric associations on word valence judgements. Results showed an overall effect of congruency proportion on brightness-valence and spatial-valence metaphoric congruency effect, which was independent of prime-target SOA. The effect was enhanced or reversed when congruency proportion was higher or lower than 0.5, respectively, suggesting that the activation of metaphoric association could be modulated by strategic control. The implications of these findings on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and semantic priming theories are discussed.

What shall we call God? An exploration of metaphors coded from descriptions of God from a large U.S. undergraduate sample

People use numerous metaphors to describe God. God is seen as a bearded man, light, and love. Based on metaphor theories, the metaphors people use to refer to God reflect how people think about God and could, in turn, reflect their worldview. However, little work has explored the common metaphors for God. This was the purpose of the current investigation. Four trained raters coded open-ended responses from predominantly Christian U.S. undergraduates (N = 2,923) describing God for the presence or absence of numerous metaphoric categories. We then assessed the frequency of each of the metaphor categories. We identified 16 metaphor categories that were present in more than 1% of the responses. The top categories were "GOD IS POWER," "GOD IS HUMAN," and "GOD IS MALE." These findings were similar across religious affiliations. We attempted to support our coding analysis using top-down and bottom-up automated language analysis. Results from these analyses provided added confidence to our conclusions. We discuss the implications of our findings and the potential for future studies investigating important psychological and behavioral outcomes of using different metaphors for God.

Leveraging individual differences to understand grounded procedures

We applaud the goals and execution of the target article, but note that individual differences do not receive much attention. This is a shortcoming because individual differences can play a vital role in theory testing. In our commentary, we describe programs of research of this type and also apply similar thinking to the mechanisms proposed in the target article.

Assessing Pragmatic Language Skills in Adults with Major Depressive Disorder: An Exploratory Study

INTRODUCTION

There is increasing evidence that major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with significant pragmatic language impairments. However, there is a lack of studies that use standardized tools and simultaneously investigate all pragmatic language skills among MDD patients. The aim of this study was to propose a more thorough investigation of all pragmatic language skills in patients with MDD.

METHODS

Twenty adults (aged 22-65) with a DSM-5 diagnosis of MDD were assessed using BLED Santa Lucia (Batteria sul Linguaggio dell'Emisfero Destro Santa Lucia), a battery designed to evaluate pragmatic language skills (comprehension of inferences, of picture and written metaphors, of indirect requests, of humoristic expressions, and of prosody). The performance of the MDD participants on all BLED Santa Lucia subscales was compared to 20 healthy control subjects (aged 20-60) matched for gender, age, years of education, and employment status.

RESULTS

MDD patients performed poorer than controls in comprehension of inferences (p < 0.01), picture metaphors (p < 0.001), written metaphors (p < 0.001), indirect requests (p < 0.01), humoristic expression (p < 0.05), and prosody (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

All pragmatic language skills can be significantly impaired in MDD patients. A valid assessment of all pragmatic language skills can allow, for each patient, the definition of a specific profile of risk and protective factors before and during psychotherapy.

On the Interpersonal Function of Metaphor Use

Abstract. Empathy and perspective taking play important roles in interpersonal functioning. As prior research has linked metaphor use to emotional understanding, it is likely that metaphor use is also involved in empathy and perspective taking. In two daily diary studies ( N = 225; Obs. = 1,849), we predicted that on days in which empathy and perspective taking were high, participants would also report higher metaphor use. In Study 1, we found support for our hypotheses, such that daily metaphor use was positively associated with daily empathy and perspective taking. In Study 2, we replicated these results. We place this work within the current literature and discuss the promise of an interpersonal function of metaphor use.

Head vs. Heart: Which Path do you Take? Self-Location Shapes Language Use, Indicating Rational and Experiential Thinking Styles

Self-location is a novel construct that identifies a bodily organ (head vs. heart) to represent self-concept. However, how self-location influences verbal performance is not well understood. This research investigates language use associated with self-location, an individual difference construct based on two different metaphoric concepts (use your head vs. follow your heart). Study 1 established the associations between self-location and verbal performance assessed by language variables in two writing tasks. Findings showed that self-location was related to specific language variables (nouns vs. verbs). In Study 2a, self-location was presented as a manipulation of the head-heart metaphor to predict language variables in a decision-making story recalled by participants. In Study 2b, a manipulation check was added, and the Heinz dilemma was used as a writing topic to control responses in different conditions. Studies 2a and 2b demonstrate that the metaphor could facilitate use of specific language variables. Implications of manipulating self-location are discussed.

Sweet taste experience improves prosocial intentions and attractiveness ratings

Taste-related terms such as bitter or sweet are often used to describe people's behavior. For example, sweetness metaphors are often used when giving nicknames for romantic partners or when characterizing a friendly person. Previous studies have suggested that sweet taste may be linked to prosocial behavior. Examining a total of 517 participants, we here demonstrate that experiencing sweet taste also seems to have an impact on subsequent attractiveness ratings of faces. Participants were asked to rate pictures of young people and of art. Before this task, they were primed either with sweet candies or with salty snacks. Results revealed that sweet taste increased subsequent attractiveness ratings of faces. In addition, results confirmed earlier findings that sweet taste affected prosocial behavior. Our results suggest that sweetness seems to be more than a mere linguistic metaphor; it influences prosocial behavior as well as attractiveness ratings of faces. We discuss the results with recent findings of physical-to-psychological links to certain figures in speech.

Effects of social anxiety on metaphorical associations between emotional valence and clothing brightness

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Individuals with social anxiety have various types of deficiencies in emotional processing. Diversity of deficiencies may imply that socially anxious individuals have malfunctions in fundamental parts of emotional processing. Therefore, we hypothesized that social anxiety contributes to deficiencies in building on the metaphorical relationship between emotional experience and brightness.

METHODS

We conducted a judgment task of valences of faces with manipulated clothing brightness (bright or dark).

RESULTS

A congruency effect between the emotional valence and clothing brightness was observed in participants with low social anxiety. However, this pattern was not found in participants with high social anxiety. The results suggested that a deficiency in metaphorical associations leads to maladaptive emotional processing in individuals with social anxiety.

LIMITATIONS

Our findings cannot be directly generalized to clinical populations. Such populations should be tested in the future studies.

CONCLUSIONS

We may expand Lakoff and Johnson's (1999) conceptual metaphor theory by showing the relationships between social anxiety and malfunction in metaphorical processing. Malfunctions in metaphorical processing could lead to various types of psychological disorders which have deficiencies in emotional processing.

Parental assessment of comfort in newborns affected by life-limiting conditions treated by a standardized neonatal comfort care program

OBJECTIVE

To assess the perception of parents concerning the state of comfort maintained in their infants born with life-limiting conditions and treated by a standardized neonatal comfort care program.

STUDY DESIGN

Participants were parents (n=35 families) who elected comfort care for their newborns diagnosed with life-limiting conditions. Standardized comfort measures including family/infant bonding, warmth, nutrition/hydration and pain/discomfort management were provided to all infants. Parents consented to receive a questionnaire with quantitative response options and open-ended questions.

RESULTS

Forty-two questionnaires (26 from mothers and 16 from fathers) were collected and analyzed. Most parents reported that their child was treated with respect, in a caring, peaceful and non-invasive environment. To the question 'Do you think that overall your baby received comfort' mode response was 'always'.

CONCLUSION

Parents of infants with life-limiting conditions perceive that their babies experience comfort as a result of the care provided by the standardized Neonatal Comfort Care Program.

Morality and soap in engineers and social scientists: the Macbeth effect interacts with professions

Several studies demonstrate that physical cleansing is actually efficacious to cope with threatened morality, thus demonstrating that physical and moral purity are psychologically interwoven. This so-called Macbeth effect has been explained, for example, by the conceptual metaphor theory that suggests an embodiment of the moral purity metaphor. Recent research draws attention to individual differences when using conceptual metaphors. The present study shows that the moral purity link interacts with different professions. Engineering and social science students were asked to hand copy a text in which the protagonist behaved in an immoral way (or in a moral way, control condition). Subsequently, they had to rate cleansing and other products. Both groups of participants showed higher ratings for cleansing products when hand copying the unethical story, but this Macbeth effect was significantly stronger for the group of engineering students. The results demonstrate that the Macbeth effect interacts with individual differences of the chosen profession. The outcome is discussed in terms of recent theories on individual differences in disgust sensitivity.

Do Metaphors in Health Messages Work? Exploring Emotional and Cognitive Factors

Health communicators publicize messages that use metaphors to compare abstract health-related concepts to concrete concepts in other domains. Such messages aim to change health attitudes and behavior, but do they work? According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, metaphors can shape thought by transferring personalized knowledge of a concrete concept to understand and relate to an abstraction, despite their superficial differences. The authors extend this claim to specify emotional and cognitive factors potentially moderating the productivity (and counter-productivity) of metaphoric health messages. A source resonance hypothesis predicts that when a message frames a health risk metaphorically in terms of a concrete hazard (versus literally), individual differences in fear surrounding that particular hazard will differentially predict risk-related worry and thus prevention intentions. A metaphoric fit hypothesis predicts that a risk metaphor will be more persuasive when the recommended prevention response is itself framed metaphorically as addressing the concrete hazard (versus literally). These hypotheses were supported in three experiments conducted with online, undergraduate, and community samples (N = 539). With skin cancer as a case study, the studies tested the impact of messages framing sun exposure and sun-safe practices with or without metaphors of enemy combat. Findings illuminate how, when, and for whom metaphoric messages are persuasive, with theoretical and practical implications for health communication and metaphoric construal.

On Feeling Warm and Being Warm

Previous investigations have linked laboratory manipulations of physical warmth to momentary increases in interpersonal warmth. However, replication concerns have occurred in this area, and it is not known whether similar dynamics characterize daily functioning. Two daily diary studies (total N = 235) suggest an affirmative answer. On days in which participants felt physically warmer, they perceived themselves to be interpersonally warmer and more agreeable, irrespective of the outdoor temperature. These findings are consistent with frameworks proposing that people draw on concepts of physical warmth to represent feelings of interpersonal warmth and they highlight the value of using daily diary and within-subject designs to investigate embodied cognition as well as other priming effects.

Neural reuse leads to associative connections between concrete (physical) and abstract (social) concepts and motives

Consistent with neural reuse theory, empirical tests of the related "scaffolding" principle of abstract concept development show that higher-level concepts "reuse" and are built upon fundamental motives such as survival, safety, and consumption. This produces mutual influence between the two levels, with far-ranging impacts from consumer behavior to political attitudes.

On God-Belief and Feeling Clean

Recent work has shown robust associations between morality and cleanliness. However, it is not known whether this association is equally consequential for everyone. I predicted that individuals high (vs. low) in God-belief would be more likely to draw upon feelings of cleanliness to represent their moral concerns. To test this hypothesis, I used a 2-week daily sampling protocol. In an initial session, I measured participants’ ( N = 135) level of God-belief. I then measured participants’ levels of daily cleanliness, neuroticism, impulsivity, and prosocial behaviors every evening. Daily feelings of cleanliness predicted lower levels of neuroticism but only for those high in God-belief. Daily impulsive behaviors predicted lower feelings of cleanliness, and daily prosocial behaviors predicted higher feelings of cleanliness. God-belief moderated these effects such that they were stronger for those higher, than lower, in God-belief. In closing, I discuss potential reasons for these moderation effects and other theoretical considerations.