Landau Mark J, Arndt Jamie, Cameron Linda D
Department of Psychology, University of Kansas.
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia.
J Exp Soc Psychol. 2018 Jan;74:135-149. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2017.09.006. Epub 2017 Sep 29.
Health communicators publicize messages that use metaphors to compare abstract health-related concepts to concrete concepts in other domains. Such messages aim to change health attitudes and behavior, but do they work? According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, metaphors can shape thought by transferring personalized knowledge of a concrete concept to understand and relate to an abstraction, despite their superficial differences. The authors extend this claim to specify emotional and cognitive factors potentially moderating the productivity (and counter-productivity) of metaphoric health messages. A hypothesis predicts that when a message frames a health risk metaphorically in terms of a concrete hazard (versus literally), individual differences in fear surrounding that particular hazard will differentially predict risk-related worry and thus prevention intentions. A hypothesis predicts that a risk metaphor will be more persuasive when the recommended prevention response is itself framed metaphorically as addressing the concrete hazard (versus literally). These hypotheses were supported in three experiments conducted with online, undergraduate, and community samples ( = 539). With skin cancer as a case study, the studies tested the impact of messages framing sun exposure and sun-safe practices with or without metaphors of enemy combat. Findings illuminate how, when, and for whom metaphoric messages are persuasive, with theoretical and practical implications for health communication and metaphoric construal.
健康传播者宣传那些使用隐喻将与健康相关的抽象概念与其他领域的具体概念进行比较的信息。此类信息旨在改变健康态度和行为，但它们有效吗？根据概念隐喻理论，隐喻可以通过传递具体概念的个性化知识来塑造思维，以便理解和关联抽象概念，尽管它们表面存在差异。作者扩展了这一观点，具体说明了可能调节隐喻性健康信息的有效性（和反效果）的情感和认知因素。一个假设预测，当一条信息用具体的危险来隐喻地构建健康风险（相对于字面表述）时，围绕该特定危险的恐惧方面的个体差异将不同程度地预测与风险相关的担忧，进而预测预防意图。另一个假设预测，当推荐的预防措施本身也用隐喻的方式构建为应对具体危险（相对于字面表述）时，风险隐喻会更具说服力。在针对在线样本、大学生样本和社区样本（N = 539）进行的三项实验中，这些假设得到了支持。以皮肤癌为例，这些研究测试了用或不用敌对战斗隐喻来构建阳光暴露和防晒措施的信息所产生的影响。研究结果揭示了隐喻性信息在何时、如何以及对谁具有说服力，对健康传播和隐喻性解释具有理论和实践意义。
