Metaphorical Framing Research Articles

The Influence of Metaphorical Frames on Americans’ Adherence to COVID-19 Public Health Guidelines

Metaphors more-effectively influence people’s perceptions and behavior than normal language. The type of metaphor used is important in maximizing persuasion. Two common public health metaphors are family and war. War metaphors generally evoke more fear than family metaphors, and family metaphors generally evoke more empathy than war metaphors. The current study investigates whether family metaphors are more effective than war metaphors in promoting adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. Participants were assigned to a condition in which they read a single COVID-19-related paragraph. The paragraph included either family, war, or no metaphorical frame. All groups rated the extent to which reading the paragraph would change an average person’s adherence to a variety of public health guidelines. After reading the paragraph, participants reported their perceptions regarding the danger of COVID-19 and their feelings of unity with others to determine whether the metaphor manipulation effectively influenced fear and empathy. There was no observable effect of metaphor type on adherence to public health guidelines. Feelings of unity and fear were not higher, on average, in one group compared to another. Thus, one metaphorical condition or even the presence of a metaphor was not observed to be more effective in changing people’s adherence to public health guidelines. Additionally, the metaphors did not evoke their intended emotions, which may explain the lack of change in behavior. Future research investigating the effect of numbing on metaphor effectiveness may help explain these results and indicate whether metaphors should be used for persuasion in future public health crises.

War and Apocalypse Metaphors in Media Discourse on the Pandemic and Earthquake in Croatia 2020/2021

The way we talk about complex and abstract ideas is abundant in metaphors. Many research studies have shown that even the most subtle metaphor can have a significant influence on the way people try to tackle various social problems. Thus, the assumption is that metaphors are not just a simple rhetorical tool, but also have a profound effect on how we conceptualize reality and respond to important social issues. In the last two decades, scientists have studied the impact of metaphorical framing on political discourse from different research perspectives. Metaphors are often used for framing political topics, and these metaphorical frames are considered to affect the way people regard these issues, perceive the world, and act, on both the individual and collective level. In accordance with these research studies, in this paper, we will regard the metaphor as a cognitive tool that classifies our conceptual system and enables the understanding of our experiences. The objective of this paper is to examine the use of conceptual metaphors in media discourse on the corona crisis and the earthquake crisis caused by the quake in Petrinja. The research was conducted in three steps, following the methodology of critical metaphor analysis (Charteris-Black, 2004). In the first step, the identification of metaphorical expressions was performed by using a big data corpus of articles published by Croatian web-portals from the beginning of the pandemic (from January 2020 to April 2021) and after the Petrinja earthquake (from 29 December 2020). In the second step, the dominant conceptual metaphors employed in communicating the two crises were interpreted. The results of this interpretation are that war metaphors are ubiquitous in reporting on the COVID-19 disease pandemic, and the apocalypse metaphor is used in reporting on the earthquake. In the third step of the analysis, the reasons and implications of the occurrence of these metaphors are explained.

COVID Roundtable

COVID Roundtable

Metaphorical framing of feminism and women in Spanish online media

ABSTRACT Online media has enabled the representation of important feminist ideas. However, a tendency towards a negative and sexualized construction of feminism in popular culture has been documented. One way to examine opinions and attitudes towards social matters is to explore metaphors as they influence reasoning and decision-making. Previous work has shown that common metaphor patterns for women include comparing them to animals or plants, body parts, commodities or outsiders. Here we use standard methods of metaphor identification to explore the framing of feminism and women in feminism-related news in online popular media in Spanish, using a sample of articles taken from News on the Web (Corpus del Español). The results show that the most common metaphors on feminism and women are warfare ones, highlighting the intention of empowering the movement. However, war metaphors may convey negative connotations such as an increase in fear emotions and political polarization. Other metaphors found for feminism also tend to foreground power and force. In the case of women, many metaphors convey victimization and objectification. Finally, some metaphors used to frame women that are common in other discourses – such as women are animals or farmland – were absent in online articles on feminism.

The power of conceptual metaphors in the age of pandemic: The influence of the WAR and SPORT domains on emotions and thoughts

Conceptual metaphors are used to conceptualise the world and are often employed in political discourse and media to refer to important social issues, such as crises, political questions or diseases (Nerghes et al., 2015; Semino et al., 2018). Previous work has shown that the use of different metaphors can lead people to reason, feel and act differently (Cienki and Müller 2008; Gibbs 2014; Lee and Schwarz, 2014; Nicaise 2014; Thibodeau and Boroditsky 2015). Recently, much has been said about the social impact of the metaphors used to refer to the COVID-19 pandemic (Oswick et al., 2020; Rohela et al., 2020; Sabucedo et al., 2020). This research explores how two metaphorical domains, War and Sport, influence people's opinions, decision making, emotions and perceptions of threats regarding the pandemic. The results obtained after surveying 711 native Spanish speakers show that the metaphorical frame influences the intensity of negative emotions and fears experienced by the participants. The data confirm that metaphor, as a cognitive mechanism, goes far beyond language and has an important impact on the psychological state of the population.

When the medium is war: Marshall McLuhan, media, and militarisation

ABSTRACT This essay explores Marshall McLuhan’s argument in War and Peace in the Global Village that ‘the first television war’ of Vietnam was staged in a new technological ‘medium’ that reduced viewers’ capacity for critical distance, blurred divisions between civilians and soldiers, undercutting the war’s domestic legitimacy and painfully shattering the ‘old image’ of national identity. Considering postcolonial critiques of McLuhan’s reliance on ethnopsychiatrist, J.C. Carothers, I explore the critical potential of his textual citations of Fanon, Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, J.K. Galbraith, and the satirical hoax, Report from Iron Mountain, and of Quentin Fiore’s graphic designs. Extending McLuhan’s arguments to the US military’s 2003 Iraq war media embedding programme, I argue that although they sought to avoid the uncontrolled media reporting of Vietnam, the war planners were nevertheless subject to the same destabilising ‘invisible environments of technological innovation’. McLuhan’s discussion of the ways technological innovation destabilises identities and promotes a violent quest to recover ‘old images’ of personal and national identity thus suggests that post-Vietnam war planners may have drastically overestimated the power of metaphorical and narrative framing when applied to media spectacle of war.

Mother Nature's Fury: Antagonist Metaphors for Natural Disasters Increase Forecasts of Their Severity and Encourage Evacuation.

Natural disasters are often described as having antagonistic qualities (e.g., wildfires ravage). The information deficit model presumes that when people assess the risk of weather hazards, they ignore irrelevant metaphoric descriptors. However, metaphoric frames affect reasoning. The current research assessed whether antagonist metaphors for natural disasters affect perceptions of the risk they pose. Three studies (N = 1,936) demonstrated that participants forecasted an antagonist-framed natural hazard as being more severe, and intended to evacuate more often, than a literal-framed natural hazard. Thus, the metaphorical language used to discuss natural disasters deserves consideration in the development of effective risk communication.

“A New Moonshot:” Exploring the Metaphoric Shift in American Cancer Discourse

ABSTRACT In this essay, I contend that American cancer discourse is in the midst of a metaphoric shift away from war and its metaphors towards metaphors of space and space exploration. To better understand the rhetorical implications of this metaphoric shift, I draw upon several scholars including Lakoff and Johnson, Segal, Sontag, and Asen to examine a fuller enactment of these new metaphors as they manifest across political and policy discourses. I then conclude by advocating for the turn towards space and space exploration metaphors in American cancer discourse, arguing that it is the best alternative to challenge the negative hegemony of the martial metaphoric frame.

Subversive Verses: How Ndebele Musicians Counter-Framed the State Propaganda on The Gukurahundi Genocide

Summary This article argues that while the state succeeded in framing Gukurahundi as suppression of armed rebellion with the help of some artists, Ndebele musicians also successfully counter-framed the carnage as genocide using subversive metaphors and analogies. It demonstrates that Ndebele musicians were among the earliest public sponsors of the genocide frame. In framing theory, metaphor is one of the key framing devices; as such, this article is a case-based comparative examination of metaphorical framing and counter-framing of selected songs. It uses songs by Lovemore Majayivana (Inhlanzi Yesiziba and U Tshaka) and Ebony Sheik (Isavungu-zane) but also touches on the broader context and deeper insights provided by other artists such as Thomas Mapfumo and Patrick Mukwamba.

Metaphor Production by Patients with Schizophrenia – A Case Analysis

ABSTRACT It is well evidenced that patients with schizophrenia demonstrate impairments of figurative language comprehension. Their metaphor production has not attracted nearly as much scholarly attention. We, therefore, studied metaphor production in patients with schizophrenia as compared to non-psychiatric controls. Qualitative case analysis on three levels (linguistic, conceptual, and discourse) was performed on controlled and semi-controlled speech. Balanced and comparable speech materials were obtained using transcribed interviews based on the Clinical Language Disorder Rating Scale and on pictorial stimuli. Transcriptions were annotated for linguistic metaphors and for types and levels of conceptual metaphors. Additionally, a metaphor-led discourse analysis was performed. Target- and control-group parameters were analyzed and compared. We found that the percentage of linguistic metaphors in the patients’ speech was remarkably similar to the percentage of linguistic metaphors in the controls’ speech. We did not find any significant impairment in the production of primary or complex metaphors, general or specific metaphors, novel or conventional metaphors, metonymy, irony, or hyperbole, nor in the metaphor framing of discourse episodes̶, the production of figurative language appears intact in first-episode schizophrenia. Having in mind how clinically heterogeneous schizophrenia is, our qualitative results call for quantitative examination and additional scrutiny of the topic.

Be Mindful of Your Metaphors about Microbes.

ABSTRACTMetaphors are ubiquitous in science and have important implications for how we frame our research objectives as well as how we communicate to the public. This piece focuses on the power of metaphors to shape our attitude and actions toward antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. It begins by emphasizing the pervasiveness of war metaphors to describe bacteria. Then it highlights that, with this type of framing, the solutions follow a similar suit. Ultimately, this metaphorical framing can imply dangerously incorrect solutions to the problem of antibiotic resistance. I propose that we need metaphors that represent the problem of antimicrobial resistance as an ecological and evolutionary issue rather than a single bacterial enemy. I end by offering a new metaphor that does not downplay the healthy fear we should have for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria but acknowledges that living things evolve and self-preserve. This piece is a call to action to use metaphors that express microbes’ exceptional resilience rather than our brute strength in combat against them.

Imagination, expectation, and “thoughts entangled in metaphors”

George Eliot strikingly describes one of her characters as making a mistake because he has gotten his thoughts “entangled in metaphors,” saying that we all do the same. I argue that Eliot is here giving us more than an illuminating description, but drawing our attention to a distinctive kind of mistake—a form of irrationality, in fact—of which metaphor can be an ineliminable part of the correct explanation. Her fictional case helps illuminate both a neglected function of the imagination, and a pervasive way in which metaphor can affect it. The function is the creation and maintenance of what I call imaginative expectations, which are relatively stable imaginative representations of future events or experiences, analogous to latent memories. These imaginative expectations have a distinctive causal profile and distinct ways of interacting with other mental activities. I argue that their formation is subject to at least two norms—a “source” norm and an “experience” norm—and show how metaphorical framing can give rise to violations of either.

Flu-like pandemics and metaphor pre-covid: A corpus investigation

The use of metaphor in framing COVID-19 has already attracted considerable attention in both academic and public debate and we have seen extensive discussion of how this pandemic might be compared to past events, such as the so-called ‘Spanish flu’ of the 1910s. In this paper, we draw these two strands of metaphoric framing and historical comparison together by identifying the metaphorical framings of past influenza pandemics in media and political discourse in the UK over an extended period (1890–2009). The findings show remarkable continuity in the choice and proportion of conceptual metaphor across very different sociohistorical contexts. However, this does not correspond to entrenchment of the metaphors which continue to be creative and elaborated in many cases. In terms of variation over time, the analysis shows shifts in framing with greater focus on societal effects and reactions to influenza in later periods while the agency of the virus is reduced.

Does the COVID-19 war metaphor influence reasoning?

In recent times, many alarm bells have begun to sound: the metaphorical presentation of the COVID-19 emergency as a war might be dangerous, because it could affect the way people conceptualize the pandemic and react to it, leading citizens to endorse authoritarianism and limitations to civil liberties. The idea that conceptual metaphors actually influence reasoning has been corroborated by Thibodeau and Boroditsky, who showed that, when crime is metaphorically presented as a beast, readers become more enforcement-oriented than when crime is metaphorically framed as a virus. Recently, Steen, Reijnierse and Burgers replied that this metaphorical framing effect does not seem to occur and suggested that the question should be rephrased about the conditions under which metaphors do or do not influence reasoning. In this paper, we investigate whether presenting the COVID-19 pandemic as a war affects people’s reasoning about the pandemic. Data collected suggest that the metaphorical framing effect does not occur by default. Rather, socio-political individual variables such as speakers’ political orientation and source of information favor the acceptance of metaphor congruent entailments: right-wing participants and participants relying on independent sources of information are those more conditioned by the COVID-19 war metaphor, thus more inclined to prefer bellicose options.

Conflict or Conversation? Media Portrayals of the Science of Reading

ABSTRACTIn this article, we contend that in media stories on the science of reading, journalists have relied on strategic metaphorical framing to present reading education as a public crisis with a narrow and settled solution. Drawing on data from a critical metaphor analysis of 37 media stories, we demonstrate how frames used in recent media reporting have intensified the reading wars, promoting conflict and hampering conversation among stakeholders and across research paradigms and methodologies. The media have asserted a direct connection between basic research and instructional practice that, without sufficient translational research that attends to a variety of instructional contexts and student populations, may perpetuate inequities. We end with an example of collaboration and a challenge to reframe reading education in ways that center collaboration and conversation rather than conflict.

Constructing the Image of Russia Through Metaphorical Framing

The paper reveals the key role of metaphor as a discursive pragmatic mechanism for promoting a positive image of Russia and substantiates the effectiveness of metaphorical framing as a method of constructing the country's image, which is still controversial. The author has demonstrated the explanatory and manipulative effect of metaphorical framing in political and mass media communication. The study postulates that in framing of political events, the figurative language has both linguistic and conceptual content, and the metaphorical frame is a powerful tool for the formation of beliefs and ideologies. The author points out to the need to expand the metaphorical repertoire applied to construct the image of Russia, and possible ways to activate alternative interpretations of current socio-political events. Possible directions of metaphorical reframing of the country's image are outlined by fixing complex figurative frames in the minds of target audience and their impact on it. These may consist in rejecting the excessively militarized discourse around the country and focusing on its cultural heritage, academic achievements, willingness of and openness to enhanced international interaction. The paper concludes that the discursive construction of the affirmative Russian image within and outside the country can be achieved through employing a positively charged metaphorical national narrative, reframed to draw particular attention to the merits and gains of Russia.

Forming a Culture-Centric Image of Russia Through Metaphorical Framing

The paper analyzes the opportunities of applying metaphorical framing in constructing a culturecentric image of Russia. Methodologically it relies on the conceptual metaphor theory elaborated by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson, according to which metaphor is a fundamental cognitive mechanism and enables us to understand and structure a more complex abstract target domain in terms of a more concrete familiar and embodied source domain. Metaphors perform a function of a framing tool: they establish frames and boundaries of human understanding of the world around; focus our attention on a posed problem; affect a recipient's attitude to phenomena, personalities, events foregrounding some the features of a target domain while overshadowing others. In this connection, by applying metaphorical framing one can single out certain aspects of the Russian reality making them salient, either appealing or repulsive, components of the Russian image. Metaphorical frames also enable to disguise some aspects of reality, thus constructing positive or negative attitudes to the country. The study emphasizes that, although the image of Russia within and outside the country is commonly constructed by referring to its political position, economic climate, its negative aspects do not seem to affect the attitudes to the Russian culture, and its development is seen as a process unfolding contrary to the current situation. The cultural component in the image of Russia is currently expressed vaguely, yet some research findings show a high potential for its application in constructing a positive image of Russia, including through metaphorical framing. Promoting a culturecentric image of Russia is possible through employing a range of metaphors such as Russia is a Spring, Russia is a Family and Russia is a Book. The paper concludes that metaphors tuned to the Russian culture will contribute to a change in the deeply rooted negative stereotypes about Russia, to constructing a modern, stable positive image of Russia comprehensible both within and outside the country. Metaphors are capable of stressing the country's openness to interacting with other peoples, its willingness and interest in cooperating with them.

Constructing the Image of Russia in Public and Political Discourse: From Semantic Description to Metaphorical Framing of Events

The subject of the research is the processes of meaning-making in public and socio-political discourse, related to constructing and interpreting the image of Russia. The study deals with the specificity of semantic description of the country's image, with a particular focus on a thesaurus – a repository of data, knowledge and concepts an individual possesses in relation to a reflected fact of life. With the emergence of the cognitive approach the researchers' observations shift towards the confrontation of cultures and the resulting ideological opposition as prerequisites for constructing a particular image of Russia. In contrast to traditional linguistics, describing metaphorical images of Russia in terms of "semantic components" or "semantic fields", cognitive linguistics views constructing of the country's image as an effect of metaphorical framing which involves applying a number of coherent procedures: naming, categorization, framing, narrating. Under proliferation and competition of ideologies, it is not the frequency of a metaphorical model of the image of Russia that serves as an indicator of its productivity but rather its potential to produce new lexical units, frames or slots. The current study exemplifies the role of ideologemes and beliefs, reflecting different value systems, in constructing the auto- and hetero-image of Russia. The paper dwells on framing in the processes of activating society's emotional states "fostering" various Russia-related sentiments. While constructing the auto- and hetero-image of Russia, political actors compete fiercely for their right to frame ideas dominating the public and political discourse and ensuring their accepted meaning. Under the current ideological opposition, the instrumentarium of metaphorical framing and reframing can serve not only as a means of competitive practices but also a means of conflict resolution in discussing the ideological and political agendas associated with attitudes to Russia.

Metaphors of migration over time

This paper aims to cast light on contemporary migration rhetoric by integrating historical discourse analysis. I focus on continuity and change in conventionalised metaphorical framings of emigration and immigration in the UK-based Times newspaper from 1800 to 2018. The findings show that some metaphors persist throughout the 200-year time period (liquid, object), some are more recent in conventionalised form (animals, invader, weight) while others dropped out of conventionalised use before returning (commodity, guest). Furthermore, we see that the spread of metaphor use goes beyond correlation with migrant naming choices with both emigrants and immigrants occupying similar metaphorical frames historically. However, the analysis also shows that continuity in metaphor use cannot be assumed to correspond to stasis in framing and evaluation as the liquid metaphor is shown to have been more favourable in the past. A dominant frame throughout the period is migrants as an economic resource and the evaluation is determined by the speaker’s perception of control of this resource.

Brexit and invasive species: a case study of the cognitive and affective encoding of ‘abject nature’ in contemporary nationalist ideology

ABSTRACT The article addresses the issue of invasive non-native species in Britain and its proximate cultural and political implications. Notably, it charts the co-option of this issue by sections of the nationalist press since the escalation of the European migrant crisis in 2015 and their strategic metaphorical alignment of human and extra-human migration, particularly in the period surrounding the Brexit referendum. These reports serve as the basis for a wider conjunctural analysis; assessing contemporary figurations of nature in nationalist ideology, the ideological importance of such metaphor framing techniques, and the common speculation that climate anxieties are being displaced onto new forms of anti-immigrant racism. Contextualizing the reports against a broader history of deploying metaphors of ‘abject nature’ in xenophobic and racist discourse, the article traces the outline of an emergent politics of abjection shaped by historically specific constructions of both race and nature.