Metaphor: A review of the psychological literature.

Billow, Richard M.

doi:10.1037/0033-2909.84.1.81

Cited by 98 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…In a recent review of metaphor and psychological theory, Billow (1977) cited some of the studies that we do, but his perspective was rather different from ours and was certainly broader. For example, without comment, he cited a Freudian interpretation of I've wandered off the point and can't find it again (Sharpe, 1968, p. 159) as a metaphor referring to subconscious childhood failures of attempts to reach the mother's nipple.…”

Section: Campaign For the Republican Party Presidential Nomination Romentioning

confidence: 78%

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Metaphor: Theoretical and empirical research.

Ortony¹,

Reynolds²,

Arter³

1978

Psychological Bulletin

137

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Metaphor plays a major role in our understanding of language and of the world we use language to talk about.Consequently, theories of language comprehension and of language itself are incomplete if they do not handle the phenomenon of metaphor, and they are inadequate if they cannot.Traditional definitions and theories of metaphor are reviewed. It is suggested that they err in equating metaphors with comparisons rather than merely implicating comparisons. Empirical research is reviewed, revealing, for the most part, serious problems, particularly in the developmental research. These problems often relate to inadequate underlying theories about the nature of metaphor. Other difficulties include inadequate controls over preexisting knowledge, and overly hasty conclusions that children cannot understand metaphors. Related research on the comprehension of proverbs and analogies is discussed. Some recommendations for future research are made. These depend on a redefinition of metaphor and on the employment of an investigative approach that will permit adequate controls of preexisting knowledge, surface structure, and meaning.The approach recommended emphasizes and takes advantage of the contextdependent nature of metaphors. Finally, the role of comparisons is reexamined. It is of no avail to argue that metaphors are really implicit comparisons if, in so doing, one hopes to account for or explain their nonliteral nature. For even if metaphors can be transformed into comparisons, these comparisons are themselves nonliteral, and consequently still need to be explained. happens that speakers or writers do not intend what they say to be taken literally; if it is taken literally, it often either makes no sense at all with respect to the surrounding context, or it appears to express something that is either impossible or false. It is our thesis that if research into the comprehension of natural language is to have ecological validity, it is necessary that we go beyond the more traditional research goals, and extend our investigations to nonliteral uses of language, which, together with literal uses, constitute the whole range of linguistic communication.One class of nonliteral uses of language that has recently started to receive attention from psychologists is "indirect speech acts." This classis not of primary concern here (but see Clark & Lucy, 1975;Schweller, Brewer & Dahl, 1976). Rather, we are concerned with metaphor and related figurative uses of language such as similes and, to some extent, analogies. Throughout our review we use the term metaphor somewhat loosely; sometimes we use is narrowly to refer to specific utterances that are, or contain metaphors in the usual sense of the word; sometimes we use it more broadly to refer to related nonliteral uses of language such as Metaphor 3 similes or analogies.Extant theory and research concerning the development of the production and comprehension of metaphor yields numerous opinions and contradictory findings. For example, one group of studies (characterized by...

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Section: Campaign For the Republican Party Presidential Nomination Romentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metaphor: Theoretical and empirical research.

Ortony¹,

Reynolds²,

Arter³

1978

Psychological Bulletin

137

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“…Psychologists have done little work bearing on these hypotheses (see Billow , 1977; or Ortony , Reynolds , and Arter , Note 5 , for recent reviews , Henle 's 1962 survey is an excellent early review). Two studie s report evidence on the relation of similarity and aptness .…”

Section: Evidence On These Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding and appreciating metaphors

1982

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“…Many theoretical explanations were proposed (e.g. Billow, 1977;Ortony, 1975;1979a;1979b;Ortony, Reynolds, & Arter, 1978). But the publication of Lakoff and Johnson's book "Metaphors We Live by" in 1980 was the starting point to consider metaphor as a cognitive tool and mechanism that changed our understanding of metaphor and its role in cognition.…”

Section: Figurative Meaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiential Basis of Meaning in a Semantic Associative Test: A Move toward an Embodied Explanation of Primary Metaphor

Ghassemzadeh¹,

Abedi²,

Khamseh³

et al. 2017

PSYCH

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The concept of meaning has undergone many changes in the course of scientific study of language, thought and behavior. At first, it was explained as something which happens in the mind and then is changed to a product of association of ideas. Today, however, new meaning of meaning has emerged with the emphasis on the experiential basis as has been formulated in the concept of metaphoric expression. In this paper, we report a preliminary study on meaning as measured by a semantic-associative test in four different cultures (Iranian, German, Arabic and American). The findings have been explained in the framework of the primary metaphors and embodiment theory.

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Metaphor: A review of the psychological literature.

Cited by 98 publications

References 54 publications

Metaphor: Theoretical and empirical research.

Metaphor: Theoretical and empirical research.

Understanding and appreciating metaphors

Experiential Basis of Meaning in a Semantic Associative Test: A Move toward an Embodied Explanation of Primary Metaphor

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