THE POWER OF METAPHORS
Imagine your city isn’t as safe as it used to be. Robberies are on the rise, home invasions are
increasing and murder rates have nearly doubled in the past three years. What should city officials
do about it? Hire more cops to round up the thugs and lock them away in a growing network of
prisons? Or design programs that promise more peace by addressing issues like a faltering economy
[05] and underperforming schools?
Your answer – and the reasoning behind it – can hinge on the metaphor being used to describe the
problem, according to new research by Stanford psychologists. Your thinking can even be swayed
with just one word, they say.
Psychology Assistant Professor Lera Boroditsky and doctoral candidate Paul Thibodeau were
[10] curious about how subtle cues and common figures of speech can frame approaches to difficult
problems. “Some estimates suggest that one out of every 25 words we encounter is a metaphor”,
said Thibodeau, the study’s lead author. “But we didn’t know the extent to which these metaphors
influence people”.
In five experiments, test subjects were asked to read short paragraphs about rising crime rates in
[15] the fictional city of Addison and answer questions about the city. The researchers gauged how
people answered these questions in light of how crime was described – as a beast or a virus.
They found the test subjects’ proposed solutions differed a great deal depending on the metaphor
they were exposed to. The results have shown that people will likely support an increase in police
forces and jailing of offenders if crime is described as a “beast” preying on a community. But if
[20] people are told crime is a “virus” infecting a city, they are more inclined to treat the problem
with social reform. According to Boroditsky: “People like to think they’re objective. They want to
believe they’re logical. But they’re really being swayed by metaphors”.
To get a sense of how much the metaphor really mattered, the researchers also examined what role
political persuasions play in people’s approach to reducing crime. They suspected that Republicans
[25] would be more inclined to catch and incarcerate criminals than Democrats, who would prefer
enacting social reforms. They found Republicans were about 10 percent more likely to suggest an
enforcement-based solution.
“We can’t talk about any complex situation – like crime – without using metaphors”, said
Boroditsky. “Metaphors aren’t just used for flowery speech. They shape the conversation for things
[30] we’re trying to explain and figure out. And they have consequences for determining what we decide
is the right approach to solving problems”.
While their research focused on attitudes about crime, their findings can be used to understand the
implications of how a casual or calculated turn of phrase can influence debates and change minds.
Adaptado de news.stanford.edu.
we didn’t know the extent to which these metaphors influence people. (l. 12-13)
In the fragment above, the doubt expressed by the researcher can be formulated by the following question:
