Syllabus for Spring, 2025 here
Paul Thibodeau and Lera Boroditsky found that metaphors can influence reasoning “covertly”—even when people can’t remember the metaphor or when they didn’t identify it as influential. What are the implications of this finding for how we think about decision-making and free will? How much of our reasoning might be shaped by linguistic frames we’re not consciously aware of?
The study found that those who self-identify as Republicans were less influenced by the metaphors than Democrats and Independents. What might explain this difference? How do ideological commitments interact with metaphorical framing effects?
Thibodeau and Boroditsky suggest metaphors may be particularly influential for complex policy issues because they offer “welcome relief from cognitive complexity” (p. 7). What are the benefits and risks of using metaphorical frameworks to reason about difficult social problems?
What ethical implications arise from this research about the use of metaphorical framing in political communication and media coverage? Should communicators be more transparent about their metaphorical frames?
Ian Bogost, “Shaka, When the Walls Fell”
Emotional Implications of Metaphor Consequences of Metaphor Framing for Mindset about Cancer
Cancer Research and $90 Billion Metaphor
VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN: We know that it is – there is no silver bullet.
And as for when he’d make his proposal?
BIDEN: I’m shooting for Tuesday. I hope I get it done by then.
Bite the bullet
Ride Shotgun
Straight-shooter
Hot-shot
Shot in the dark
Go ballistic
Shoot from the hip
Gun shy
Higinbotham metaphors legal violence
A Veteran on Covid-19 War Metaphors
Constraints, Wired
Constraints, Source
“Litany,” by Billy Collins (“It seems that many poets believe that the answer to the rather insulting question, ‘what do women want?’ is quite simple: ‘metaphor.'”)
Dave: “no birds”:
- https://www.thebodypro.com/article/to-understand-challenges-black-men-with-hiv-face-o
- https://www.davidserenolaw.com/life-after-prison/
- https://hopeforprisoners.org/
- https://www.ahaprocess.com/st-vincent-de-paul-prison-reentry-programs-use-bridges-getting-out/
- https://news.umich.edu/facilitating-a-smooth-technological-transition-for-citizens-returning-from-prison/
- https://www.a2ndchancebailbonds.com/second-chance-act-expected-to-give-old-and-sick-prisoners-a-reprieve/
Metaphors are more Emotionally Engaging
Michael Boudin Antitrust Doctrine and the Sway of metaphor