Effects of Communication Modality and Speaker Identity on Metaphor Framing

Flusberg, Stephen J.; Lauria, Mark; Balko, Samuel; Thibodeau, Paul H.

doi:10.1080/10926488.2020.1767336

“…Our goals in Experiment 3 were to replicate the moderating effect of citing victim-related language and to examine whether a minimal instantiation of the victim frame would still yield reliable framing effects. Whereas more elaborate linguistic framing often yields stronger effects (Flusberg et al, 2020; Thibodeau, 2016), a single instantiation of a frame can be sufficient (Thibodeau & Boroditsky, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who’s the “Real” Victim? How Victim Framing Shapes Attitudes Toward Sexual Assault

Flusberg

¹

,

Vord

²

,

Husney

³

et al. 2022

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People accused of sexual assault are often described as the “real” victim by their defenders, but the impact of “victim framing” on public opinion is unknown. We investigated this issue across four experiments ( N = 2,614). Online U.S. adult participants read a report about an alleged sexual assault that framed the female accuser as the victim (of assault), framed the male alleged perpetrator as the victim (of false accusations), or was neutral about victimhood (baseline). Relative to those in the baseline condition, participants in the assault- and allegation-victim conditions generally expressed more support for the victim-framed protagonist and less support for the other protagonist. The consistency of these effects varied with how often the victim frame was instantiated and whether the report described a fictionalized or real-world case. Across all contexts, however, participants who identified the victim-related language as influencing their evaluations exhibited strong framing effects. This suggests that social-pragmatic reasoning is a key mechanism by which victim framing shapes moral judgments.

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“…When asked to explain their decision about a metaphorically framed problem, participants rarely seem to think the metaphor was a significant factor. Indeed, many cannot even remember what metaphor they read even though the results of the study suggest that it influenced how they thought about the issue (Thibodeau, 2017;Thibodeau & Boroditsky, 2013; but see Flusberg et al, 2020).…”

Section: Metaphor Framing In Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In addition, people are more likely to endorse a course of action when it is described in a way that makes it more compatible with the metaphorical frame (Keefer, Landau, Sullivan, & Rothschild, 2014;Hauser & Schwarz, 2015;Landau, Keefer, & Swanson, 2017;Thibodeau, 2016). For instance, when social reforms are framed as a way to "treat" a metaphorical virus and enforcement tactics are framed as a way to "fight" a metaphorical beast, people are especially likely to suggest the metaphor-consistent response to crime (Flusberg et al, 2020;Thibodeau, 2016). That said, people are often unaware of a metaphor's influence in metaphor framing studies.…”

Section: Metaphor Framing In Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metaphor and elaboration in context

Thibodeau

¹

,

Flusberg

²

2022

Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication

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3

0

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In this chapter, we situate recent studies of metaphor comprehension and metaphor framing under broader theories of discourse processing, drawing out the connections between classic work on narratives, schemas, and elaboration and contemporary research on metaphor. Our analysis emphasizes that language is used to solve coordination problems in a social-pragmatic context. That is, listeners actively use language in combination with other sources of information (prior knowledge, gesture, and so on) to construct mental models in working memory that they can use to make decisions and act in a dynamic social world. Just as reading a sentence like “John went to a restaurant” calls to mind general knowledge about restaurants – which helps the listener build a richer “online” representation of the event than is communicated in the linguistic input alone – so too does reading about a “crime epidemic” call to mind salient schematic knowledge associated with the source domain (VIRUS), which helps the listener build a richer representation of the target domain (CRIME) that can drive decision-making.

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“…For example, framing a problem with different metaphors should lead people to draw different inferences about how to solve it. This possibility has been tested in a variety of domains that are fundamental to a well-functioning society and our everyday life, revealing effects of metaphors on reasoning about cancer, loving relationships, educational goals, immigration, global warming, federal budgets, law enforcement, and a host of other issues (e.g., Elmore & Luna-Lucero, 2016;Flusberg, Lauria, Balko & Thibodeau, 2020;Flusberg, Matlock, & Thibodeau, 2017;Hauser & Schwarz, 2015;Landau, Sullivan, & Greenberg, 2009;Robins & Mayer, 2000;Thibodeau, 2016;Thibodeau, Crow, & Flusberg, 2018;.…”

Section: Metaphor Framing In Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, people are more likely to endorse a course of action when it is described in a way that makes it more compatible with the metaphorical frame (Keefer, Landau, Sullivan, & Rothschild, 2014;Hauser & Schwarz, 2015;Landau, Keefer, & Swanson, 2017;Thibodeau, 2016). For instance, when social reforms are framed as a way to "treat" a metaphorical virus and enforcement tactics are framed as a way to "fight" a metaphorical beast, people are especially likely to suggest the metaphor-consistent response to crime (Flusberg et al, 2020;Thibodeau, 2016). That said, people are often unaware of a metaphor's influence in metaphor framing studies.…”

Section: Metaphor Framing In Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%