Metaphors of Body and Mind in the History of English

Swan, Toril

doi:10.1080/00138380902796292

Cited by 23 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Philosophers and writers subsequent to Plato have elaborated on the purported significance of the head versus the heart in understanding rational thinking, emotional responding, and decision making, but in a way that preserves Plato’s presumed functions for these two body organs. Similar heart and head metaphors pervade the work of Shakespeare, for example, but also many other writers (Swan, 2009). …”

Section: Head Versus Heart Metaphorsmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…As indicated above, the head and the heart are frequently contrasted with each other in their purported functions (Swan, 2009). Further, heart metaphors are common in characterizing greater levels of emotionality (Kövecses, 2000).…”

Section: Head Versus Heart Metaphorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From another perspective, though, the consensual nature of conceptual metaphors can be capitalized on. Of importance to the current investigation, if the head is rational and the heart is emotional (Swan, 2009), then forcing individuals to choose whether the head or the heart is the predominant locus of the self may be of great value in predicting numerous outcomes consistent with head versus heart metaphors.…”

Section: A Novel Individual Difference Measure and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do you use your head or follow your heart? Self-location predicts personality, emotion, decision making, and performance.

Fetterman

Robinson

2013

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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The head is thought to be rational and cold, whereas the heart is thought to be emotional and warm. Eight studies (total N = 725) pursued the idea that such body metaphors are widely consequential. Study 1 introduced a novel individual difference variable, one asking people to locate the self in the head or the heart. Irrespective of sex differences, head-locators characterized themselves as rational, logical, and interpersonally cold, whereas heart-locators characterized themselves as emotional, feminine, and interpersonally warm (Studies 1–3). Study 4 found that head-locators were more accurate in answering general knowledge questions and had higher GPAs and Study 5 found that heart-locators were more likely to favor emotional over rational considerations in moral decision-making. Study 6 linked self-locations to reactivity phenomena in daily life –e.g., heart-locators experienced greater negative emotion on high stressor days. Study 7 manipulated attention to the head versus the heart and found that head-pointing facilitated intellectual performance, whereas heart-pointing led to emotional decision-making. Study 8 replicated Study 3’s findings with a nearly year-long delay between the self-location and outcome measures. The findings converge on the importance of head-heart metaphors for understanding individual differences in cognition, emotion, and performance.

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Section: Head Versus Heart Metaphorsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Head Versus Heart Metaphorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Novel Individual Difference Measure and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Do you use your head or follow your heart? Self-location predicts personality, emotion, decision making, and performance.

Fetterman

Robinson

2013

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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“…As an alternative explanatory framework, we suggest that the classic metaphoric distinction between the head and the heart (mentioned by Plato, Shakespeare, and many others: see Swan, 2009, for a review) may have considerable value. Linguistically, we refer to rational individuals as "having their head on straight" and we encourage smarter decisions with the suggestion to "use your head".…”

Section: Rationality Versus Emotionality and The Head-heartmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a metaphor-enriched personality psychology.

Robinson

Fetterman

2014

The Power of Metaphor: Examining Its Influence on Social Life.

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Conventional wisdom on metaphor suggests that it is the province of poets, metaphor is an optional way of thinking, or that metaphor merely serves communication purposes. In this chapter, we show that such wisdom is at variance with how human beings actually think and function. We first provide a brief overview of the metaphor representation perspective. We then make a case for the utility of this perspective in understanding how people differ from each other and do so within a broader context of how personality has traditionally been assessed. We then present four lines of personality research inspired by the metaphor representation perspective. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges and unanswered questions involved in translating the metaphor representation perspective to personality psychology.

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“…From a cognitive semantic perspective, the heart in English has received some attention from scholars, notable among whom is Niemeier (2003; who argues that in English, a folk model exists that places the heart as the site of emotions. Swan (2009) also discusses the role of the heart in the history of English and its function as a key term in English speaking cultures. He shows that the metaphorical meanings related to the heart are not only largely subsequent to and developed from concrete meanings, but also that new meanings develop over time, often constituting complex networks of interrelated conceptualisations.…”

Section: Conceptualisations Of the Heart In Englishmentioning

confidence: 99%

The metonymic and metaphoric conceptualisations of the heart in Akan and English

Afreh¹

2016

Legon J. Hum.

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The paper examines the metaphorical and metonymic structure of the heart in Akan (a Kwa language in West Africa,) and English, within the framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), formulated by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). My aim is to explore the ways in which akoma, 'the heart', is used in Akan to express human experiences and also to compare the conceptualisations of the heart in Akan to those in English in order to establish whether the two languages manifest any cross-conceptual, cross-linguistic or cross-cultural differences. The data reveal that there are no striking differences between English and Akan with respect to the metaphoric and metonymic conceptualisations of the heart. The differences in the language-specific conceptualisations are attributed to the cultural models embedded in the two languages.

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Metaphors of Body and Mind in the History of English

Cited by 23 publications

References 10 publications

Do you use your head or follow your heart? Self-location predicts personality, emotion, decision making, and performance.

Do you use your head or follow your heart? Self-location predicts personality, emotion, decision making, and performance.

Toward a metaphor-enriched personality psychology.

The metonymic and metaphoric conceptualisations of the heart in Akan and English

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