Abstract
Studies have found metaphor-consistent effects for certain cutaneous sensations. However, no research to date has investigated the influence of ticklish and itchy sensations on social proximity. This study examined possible metaphor-consistent effects between these sensations and social proximity. Participants looked at a photograph inducing a ticklish or an itchy sensation and responded to a questionnaire inquiring about interpersonal distances. Results indicated that participants in the tickling condition desired to maintain more distance to medium-intimate others, whereas those in the itchy condition desired to maintain less distance. These findings confirmed the metaphor-consistent effects of these sensations on social proximity. Theoretical implications of this finding are discussed.
Highlights
Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p.5) explained that “the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another”, and proposed the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) in which metaphors create meanings at a cognitive level
A one sample t-test indicated that these means were significantly higher than 3.0, which was the theoretical median of the scales measuring ticklish and itchy sensations (t (62) = 4.84, p < .001, 95% CI = .46 to 1.10 for the ticklish sensation and t (62) = 5.16, p < .001, 95% CI = .49 to 1.10 for the itchy sensation)
We performed an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with interpersonal distance as the dependent variable and conditions as the independent variables, with the sum of the scores of the 16 items as a covariate
Summary
Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p.5) explained that “the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another”, and proposed the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) in which metaphors create meanings at a cognitive level. The itchy sensation might be related to approach reactions for realizing a desire, whereas the ticklish sensation might be linked to avoidance reactions Both metaphoric linguistic expressions and physiological findings support the distinction between these two sensations. We estimated the conceptual metaphor “SOCIAL PROXIMITY IS AN ITCHY/TICKLISH SENSATION” and hypothesized that metaphor consistent effects would occur in the conceptual metaphor, which is related to “SOCIAL PROXIMITY IS WARMTH” (IJzerman & Semin, 2009; Landau, Zhong, & Swanson, 2018) Studies supporting this connection have found that warmer temperatures lead individuals to perceive others as being socially closer and more intimate, whereas cold temperatures lead to perceptions of distance and rejection. We analyzed the influence of the two sensations on interpersonal distances by using the degree of participants’ extraversion as a covariate to avoid the influence of the covariate on interpersonal distances
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