We used to think metaphors were the product of language. Now there's growing evidence that we've had the cart before the horse.
It seems that a good part of language is the product of metaphors, not the other way around.
The theory goes like this: We felt warm when mom held us to her bosom. Later, something like that feeling, to which we had attached a word, came over us when a close friend greeted us. So we used the same word to describe that experience -- "He greeted me warmly."
And so it goes with other experiences. In both English and Chinese, "thinking" is tied to metaphors of movement in space. "We lose our train of thought, call something to mind, think up something."
We're especially prone to attach metaphors to abstract concepts like time -- e.g., "time flies," "time drags," etc.
Sounds harmless enough. But here's the kicker: metaphors seem to have their own physical circuits in our brains. And a long series of experiments suggest that they actually affect our behavior.
- People holding warm cups of coffee were more likely to judge others as trustworthy than those holding cold cups.
- People asked to remember a time when they were socially accepted judged the room to be 5 degrees warmer than those asled to remember being snubbed.
- People asked to squeeze a soft ball perceived gender neutral faces as female; those asked to squeeze a hard ball perceived them as male.
- People holding heavy clipboards judged currencies to be more valuable and their opinions to be more important.
- People asked to think about doing something wrong, like cheating on a test, were more likely to request an antiseptic cloth after the experiment than those who had thought about good deeds.
- People asked to think about a future event leaned slightly forward while thinking about the past caused others to lean slightly backwards.
So watch those metaphors rattling around in your head. They may be coloring your thinking. And your behavior.
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