Oberlechner Thomas, Slunecko Thomas, Kronberger Nicole
Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Br J Soc Psychol. 2004 Mar;43(Pt 1):133-56. doi: 10.1348/014466604322916024.
This study describes metaphorical conceptualizations of the foreign exchange market held by market participants and examines how these metaphors socially construct the financial market. Findings are based on 55 semi-structured interviews with senior foreign exchange experts at banks and at financial news providers in Europe. We analysed interview transcripts by metaphor analysis, a method based on cognitive linguistics. Results indicate that market participants' understanding of financial markets revolves around seven metaphors, namely the market as a bazaar, as a machine, as gambling, as sports, as war, as a living being and as an ocean. Each of these metaphors highlights and conceals certain aspects of the foreign exchange market and entails a different set of implications on crucial market dimensions, such as the role of other market participants and market predictability. A correspondence analysis supports our assumption that metaphorical thinking corresponds with implicit assumptions about market predictability. A comparison of deliberately generated and implicitly used metaphors reveals notable differences. In particular, implicit metaphors are predominantly organic rather than mechanical. In contrast to academic models, interactive and organic metaphors, and not the machine metaphor, dominate the market accounts of participants.
本研究描述了市场参与者对外汇市场的隐喻概念化，并考察了这些隐喻如何在社会层面构建金融市场。研究结果基于对欧洲银行和金融新闻机构的55位资深外汇专家进行的半结构化访谈。我们采用隐喻分析方法对访谈记录进行分析，该方法基于认知语言学。结果表明，市场参与者对金融市场的理解围绕七个隐喻展开，即市场如集市、如机器、如赌博、如体育、如战争、如生命体、如海洋。这些隐喻中的每一个都突出和隐藏了外汇市场的某些方面，并在关键的市场维度上产生了不同的影响，比如其他市场参与者的角色和市场可预测性。对应分析支持了我们的假设，即隐喻思维与关于市场可预测性的隐含假设相对应。对刻意生成的隐喻和隐含使用的隐喻进行比较，发现了显著差异。特别是，隐含隐喻主要是有机的而非机械的。与学术模型不同，互动和有机隐喻而非机器隐喻主导了参与者对市场的描述。
