InternetActu - Another blow to the idea of man "rational animal" and a brick in the edifice of behavioral economics. Our vision of the world - and therefore our decisions - would be largely shaped by our system of metaphors, which pertain not only decidedly poets. This is evident from the experiment conducted by Paul Thibodeau and Lera Boroditsky at Stanford University, reported by an article in Discover magazine.
These two researchers have proposed their subjects two reports on crime in the city of Addison, guinea pigs do not read each one of course. In the first, the crime was described as a wild beast, a dangerous predator. Result, 75% of readers of this report have called for punitive measures such as building new prisons, for example.
Only 25% suggested the implementation of economic, social, educational or health. The illusion of objectivity The second version took over exactly the same elements as the first, statistics included. Except that the crime was shown there as a virus infecting and contaminating the city's environment.
This time, readers were more than 56% to vote for the strengthening of sanctions and means of police action, 44% of them suggested social reforms. In short, when the crime is considered a "disease", we are more willing to seek "treatment" rather than "fight" and "punish". When asked about their choices, only 3% of the subjects seem to have been aware of the influence of rhetoric on their recommendations.
Most were convinced that they were dictated by the statistics report. Clearly, they thought themselves "objective." Continuing further their experiments, researchers were also able to make other interesting observations. So, needless to "the metaphor" in pursuing the comparison too heavy.
Once mentioning the term "wild animal" or "virus" without further emphasize enough to affect the results. But putting the metaphor at the end of the report, so do not let it soak the context, tends to cancel its effect. Obviously, we must also take into account the views of predetermined topics.
It is known that U.S. Republicans are more willing to demand tougher sanctions, while Democrats are more pro-social measures or that women are generally more compassionate than men. But, surprise again, the differences of opinions generated by these criteria seem to play only 9% of cases, while metaphors are responsible for 18 to 22% of the development of opinions.
In this work, researchers are probably inspired by the work of George Lakoff (which they also cite the texts from the introduction of their paper). According to cognitive linguist, all thought is based on the metaphor. Lakoff became for a time "guru" of Democrats. In his book Do not Think Of An Elephant (Do not think of an elephant, this animal is the symbol of the Republican Party) he advised them to develop a coherent system of metaphors, in which art, he said, Republicans good, instead of simply "laundry lists", that is to say, sets of measures individually attractive, but without sitting metaphorical storytelling without, to use a buzzword.
THE IMPORTANCE OF "STORYTELLING" He cites a survey dating from the days when Arnold Schwarzenegger was against Gray Davis for the governorship of California. Most of the time the respondents expressed a preference for the measures announced by the Democratic candidate. But finally when asked who they would vote, all too often, and in contradiction with their own answers, he replied: "Arnold Schwarzenegger".
For Lakoff, all our thinking is based on metaphors, including its most abstract, like mathematics. Ed Yong, the author of the article in Discover is also in the sense of Lakoff, indicating the important role of metaphor in science, not failing to mention for example the well known fact too simple a comparison between the brain and the computer can block the reflection.
Yong also mentions an academic (. Pdf) that shows how the fact to consider the networks as electrical systems or plumbing mobs movement can influence the understanding of engineering students. The last interesting aspect of this study is not about its content but its form. Indeed, if certain experiments were conducted in a "classic" on students, others have appealed to subjects recruited through the service of "Turk" from Amazon.
So this is a study in psychology in part "crowdsourcée. But whether such methods will revolutionize psychological research or are criticized for their lack of reliability ... that's another issue. 
These two researchers have proposed their subjects two reports on crime in the city of Addison, guinea pigs do not read each one of course. In the first, the crime was described as a wild beast, a dangerous predator. Result, 75% of readers of this report have called for punitive measures such as building new prisons, for example.
Only 25% suggested the implementation of economic, social, educational or health. The illusion of objectivity The second version took over exactly the same elements as the first, statistics included. Except that the crime was shown there as a virus infecting and contaminating the city's environment.
This time, readers were more than 56% to vote for the strengthening of sanctions and means of police action, 44% of them suggested social reforms. In short, when the crime is considered a "disease", we are more willing to seek "treatment" rather than "fight" and "punish". When asked about their choices, only 3% of the subjects seem to have been aware of the influence of rhetoric on their recommendations.
Most were convinced that they were dictated by the statistics report. Clearly, they thought themselves "objective." Continuing further their experiments, researchers were also able to make other interesting observations. So, needless to "the metaphor" in pursuing the comparison too heavy.
Once mentioning the term "wild animal" or "virus" without further emphasize enough to affect the results. But putting the metaphor at the end of the report, so do not let it soak the context, tends to cancel its effect. Obviously, we must also take into account the views of predetermined topics.
It is known that U.S. Republicans are more willing to demand tougher sanctions, while Democrats are more pro-social measures or that women are generally more compassionate than men. But, surprise again, the differences of opinions generated by these criteria seem to play only 9% of cases, while metaphors are responsible for 18 to 22% of the development of opinions.
In this work, researchers are probably inspired by the work of George Lakoff (which they also cite the texts from the introduction of their paper). According to cognitive linguist, all thought is based on the metaphor. Lakoff became for a time "guru" of Democrats. In his book Do not Think Of An Elephant (Do not think of an elephant, this animal is the symbol of the Republican Party) he advised them to develop a coherent system of metaphors, in which art, he said, Republicans good, instead of simply "laundry lists", that is to say, sets of measures individually attractive, but without sitting metaphorical storytelling without, to use a buzzword.
THE IMPORTANCE OF "STORYTELLING" He cites a survey dating from the days when Arnold Schwarzenegger was against Gray Davis for the governorship of California. Most of the time the respondents expressed a preference for the measures announced by the Democratic candidate. But finally when asked who they would vote, all too often, and in contradiction with their own answers, he replied: "Arnold Schwarzenegger".
For Lakoff, all our thinking is based on metaphors, including its most abstract, like mathematics. Ed Yong, the author of the article in Discover is also in the sense of Lakoff, indicating the important role of metaphor in science, not failing to mention for example the well known fact too simple a comparison between the brain and the computer can block the reflection.
Yong also mentions an academic (. Pdf) that shows how the fact to consider the networks as electrical systems or plumbing mobs movement can influence the understanding of engineering students. The last interesting aspect of this study is not about its content but its form. Indeed, if certain experiments were conducted in a "classic" on students, others have appealed to subjects recruited through the service of "Turk" from Amazon.
So this is a study in psychology in part "crowdsourcée. But whether such methods will revolutionize psychological research or are criticized for their lack of reliability ... that's another issue.
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