Toward a metaphor-enriched personality psychology.

Abstract

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.

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

“…Since then, a body of social cognitive work has shown that perceptual manipulations consistent with prominent metaphors (e.g., “good is up”: Meier & Robinson, 2004a) alter cognition and social judgments in a metaphor-consistent direction (Landau et al, 2010). There are many gaps in our current knowledge, but the primary one from our perspective is that metaphor representation theory has yet to contact the personality literature as much as might be desired (Robinson & Fetterman, in press), aside from a handful of studies examining personality trait predictors of reaction time processes (Meier & Robinson, 2006; Moeller, Robinson, & Zabelina, 2008; Robinson, Zabelina, Ode, & Moeller, 2008; Sherman & Clore, 2009). Yet, if metaphoric processes do constrain thought, feeling, and behavior in the manner suggested by Lakoff and Johnson (1999), the metaphor representation perspective might have largely untapped potential in understanding individual differences.…”

“…Similarly, we would expect preferences for the color red over blue to predict anger and aggression (Fetterman, Robinson, Gordon, & Elliot, 2011). Indeed, we regard a metaphoric approach to personality as an especially generative one in answering important questions concerning how and why people differ from each other (Robinson & Fetterman, in press), particularly given the extensive corpus of linguistic metaphors collected and analyzed by metaphor scholars (Gibbs, 1994; Lakoff & Johnson, 1999). …”

“…From one perspective, such consensual associations render it uncertain whether conceptual metaphors may be explanatory in the personality realm (Landau et al, 2010; Robinson & Fetterman, in press). From another perspective, though, the consensual nature of conceptual metaphors can be capitalized on.…”

“…Metaphor representation theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999) might have profound implications for personality psychology, but there is surprisingly little research of this type (Robinson & Fetterman, in press). There are at least two potential reasons for this largely missing interface.…”

“…Second, manipulations (e.g., of dirt, warmth, or higher vertical position) are potentially irrelevant in understanding individual differences, which are not commensurate with manipulation effects (Kenrick & Funder, 1988). Considerable creativity, therefore, is necessary for translating the metaphor representation theory to the individual differences realm (Robinson & Fetterman, in press). …”