Lucas A. Keefer

A metaphor-enriched social cognition.

Social cognition is the scientific study of the cognitive events underlying social thought and attitudes. Currently, the fields prevailing theoretical perspectives are the traditional schema view and embodied cognition theories. Despite important differences, these perspectives share the seemingly uncontroversial notion that people interpret and evaluate a given social stimulus using knowledge about similar stimuli. However, research in cognitive linguistics (e.g., Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) suggests that people construe the world in large part through conceptual metaphors, which enable them to understand abstract concepts using knowledge of superficially dissimilar, typically more concrete concepts. Drawing on these perspectives, we propose that social cognition can and should be enriched by an explicit recognition that conceptual metaphor is a unique cognitive mechanism that shapes social thought and attitudes. To advance this metaphor-enriched perspective, we introduce the metaphoric transfer strategy as a means of empirically assessing whether metaphors influence social information processing in ways that are distinct from the operation of schemas alone. We then distinguish conceptual metaphor from embodied simulation--the mechanism posited by embodied cognition theories--and introduce the alternate source strategy as a means of empirically teasing apart these mechanisms. Throughout, we buttress our claims with empirical evidence of the influence of metaphors on a wide range of social psychological phenomena. We outline directions for future research on the strength and direction of metaphor use in social information processing. Finally, we mention specific benefits of a metaphor-enriched perspective for integrating and generating social cognitive research and for bridging social cognition with neighboring fields.

A dual-motive model of scapegoating: Displacing blame to reduce guilt or increase control.

The authors present a model that specifies 2 psychological motives underlying scapegoating, defined as attributing inordinate blame for a negative outcome to a target individual or group, (a) maintaining perceived personal moral value by minimizing feelings of guilt over ones responsibility for a negative outcome and (b) maintaining perceived personal control by obtaining a clear explanation for a negative outcome that otherwise seems inexplicable. Three studies supported hypotheses derived from this dual-motive model. Framing a negative outcome (environmental destruction or climate change) as caused by ones own harmful actions (value threat) or unknown sources (control threat) both increased scapegoating, and these effects occurred indirectly through feelings of guilt and perceived personal control, respectively (Study 1), and were differentially moderated by affirmations of moral value and personal control (Study 2). Also, scapegoating in response to value threat versus control threat produced divergent, theoretically specified effects on self-perceptions and behavioral intentions (Study 3).

Perceived importance of cross-race targets facilitates recall: Support for a motivated account of face memory

The cross-race effect (CRE) is the tendency to remember same-race (SR) faces better than cross-race (CR) faces. While there has been debate about the causes of the CRE, recent perspectives suggest that a lack of motivation to remember CR faces causes this effect. We provide direct support for this model across two studies manipulating the perceived importance of target faces. In Study 1 participants were outcome-dependent on a Black or White research partner. When participants were dependent on a Black partner compared with a White partner, the CRE was reduced through an increase in Black face recognition. In Study 2 we used a novel procedure to increase the perceptual size of target faces. According to conceptual metaphor theory, targets that appear subjectively large will be perceived as more important. We found that the CRE was eliminated when CR faces appeared larger than SR faces.

The cultural backdrop to prospection: Exploring the relevance of time-space distanciation

Although the phenomena of prospection are embedded within cultural contexts, the impact of culture on prospection has not been subjected to systematic study. Drawing on theory and research in social and environmental psychology, sociology, and anthropology, we observe that time and space are heterogeneously organized and understood across different cultural settings, and propose that the cultural organization of time and space impacts the processes of prospection. We employ the construct of time–space distanciation (TSD), first introduced by Anthony Giddens, to describe the relationship between culture and understandings of time and space. TSD refers to the process through which cultural assumptions about the relationship between time and space change attributable to technological, economic, and social structural transitions. We present a diachronic account of changes in TSD (focusing on postindustrial societies), followed by a review of the applications of this construct for current prospection theory and research. TSD introduces a useful means for organizing broad social factors such as wealth, technology, and ideology, and bringing them into relation with individuals’ processes of prospection, by looking at the relationships between time and space presumed within cultures.

Divergent Effects of Metaphoric Company Logos: Do They Convey What the Company Does or What I Need?

Many corporate logos use pictorial metaphors to influence consumer attitudes. Priming concrete concepts—by means of logo exposure or other procedures—changes attitudes toward dissimilar abstract targets in metaphor-consistent ways. It is assumed, however, that observers apply a logo’s metaphor externally to interpret the company and its service. This research examined the possibility that observers may instead apply that metaphor internally to interpret their current condition and hence their need for the company’s service. We hypothesized that the same logo can have divergent effects on company liking depending on the direction of metaphor application. To test this possibility, we built on evidence that people apply available metaphors especially when they feel unsure about the target. We predicted that observers would apply a logo’s metaphor externally when unsure about the company, but internally when unsure about themselves. Three experiments provide convergent support for hypotheses. We discuss implications for research and marketing. Imagine that you walk by a new company offering “creative solutions,” and pasted on their sign is a logo depicting a bright lightbulb. This is not a lighting company, so the logo must be a metaphor. But do you interpret that metaphor to describe the nature of the company’s service or your condition? If the former, the logo signals that the company “illuminates” new solutions to your problems; hence, it addresses your needs, tempting you to inquire further. Yet if you implicitly associate the lightbulb with your internal state, you might perceive that you are sufficiently illuminated (i.e., aware of creative solutions). In this case, the company is irrelevant to your needs, and therefore less appealing.

Metaphor and analogy in everyday problem solving.

Early accounts of problem solving focused on the ways people represent information directly related to target problems and possible solutions. Subsequent theory and research point to the role of peripheral influences such as heuristics and bodily states. We discuss how metaphor and analogy similarly influence stages of everyday problem solving: Both processes mentally map features of a target problem onto the structure of a relatively more familiar concept. When individuals apply this structure, they use a well-known concept as a framework for reasoning about real world problems and candidate solutions. Early studies found that analogy use helped people gain insight into novel problems. More recent research on metaphor goes further to show that activating mappings has subtle, sometimes surprising effects on judgment and reasoning in everyday problem solving. These findings highlight situations in which mappings can help or hinder efforts to solve problems. WIREs Cogn Sci 2016, 7:394-405. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1407 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Frighteningly Similar Relationship Metaphors Elicit Defensive Information Processing

Messages in public discourse commonly employ metaphors to describe abstract sociopolitical issues in terms of unrelated concepts. In prior research, exposure to such metaphoric messages influences attitudes. The current research tests the novel possibility that metaphor exposure can elicit defensive avoidance of otherwise benign information. We build on the evidence that individuals with avoidant attachment style avoid thinking about close relationships, operationalized as lower recall of relationship information. Two studies show that dispositionally high and experimentally increased attachment avoidance impaired recall of messages framing political topics metaphorically in terms of close relationships. This effect is specific to the relationship metaphor and avoidance regarding relevant relationships. It held even when the message referred to positive relationships, casting doubt on an alternative valence priming explanation. Although the target political topics are not, literally speaking, close relationships, relationship-metaphoric messages led individuals who avoid relationship information to transfer that defensive processing style across domains.

Mapping the Great Recession: A Reader's Guide to the First Crisis of 21st Century Capitalism

Commentators agree that the crisis that boiled to a bubble in the fall of 2008 (“the Great Recession”) is the gravest downturn since the depression of the 1930s. That makes it one of the two greatest crises in the history of capitalism. And plainly, the crisis continues, yielding severe joblessness and a growing danger of government defaults, bank failures, and stock market crashes. Hundreds of commentators have sought to explain the crisis. Yet much remains murky, even paradoxical. This essay attempts to put the crisis in perspective by mapping the universe of crisis literature. It begins by framing some of the key questions posed in this literature. Next it offers sharply etched reviews of thirteen key books. The result is a multi-faceted portrait of a crisis that is still unfolding.

Time–space distanciation: An empirically supported integrative framework for the cultural psychology of time and space

While researchers in social psychology often explore space and time in isolation, the relations between these dimensions are rarely considered. To address this gap, we explore a model of Time–Space Distanciation, the extent to space and time are abstracted from one another in the cultural coordination of activity. We introduce this construct with an emphasis on its interdisciplinary roots and its status as a feature of both group- and individual-level psychology. We then offer three studies providing initial evidence of the distinctiveness of this variable at both levels. We find that (1) state-level time–space distanciation is related to, but distinct from, collectivism and cultural tightness and (2) it has important implications for collective well-being. We further found that (3) individual-level time–space distanciation is associated with a wide range of trait differences. We conclude by describing the implications of this research for the study of time, space, and their connection.

Others in Mind: Social Origins of Self-Consciousness

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