The metaphors we use about life

People use metaphors spontaneously in our daily lives to explain or understand complex issues, such as life itself.

A recent study has focused on the metaphors people use to describe life.

The study was carried out by Antonio Crego, José Ramón Yela and Rita Ozores-Pérez, all three from the Department of Psychology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca (UPSA), in Spain.

A total of 806 Spanish-speaking volunteers were asked to provide a metaphor about life and explain how they understood the metaphor.

The responses of the study participants were analyzed using Reflective Thematic Analysis.

Contributions on the analysis of metaphors from cognitive psycholinguistics and Relational Frame Theory were used to interpret the patterns identified in the discourse on life metaphors.

The Theory of Relational Frames allows us to analyze metaphors as relationships between semantic networks, among which a coordination is established between a more concrete or familiar semantic domain (source domain) and a more complex and challenging destination-domain.

After examining the metaphors provided by the study participants, the researchers were able to categorize them into four thematic areas.

The first of them is the recognition of variation in life. That is, life as a succession of transformations and changes.

A common metaphor about life is that this is a path along which we move forward. (Photo: Amazings/NCYT)

The second thematic area groups together attempts to make sense of this variation in life.

The third focuses on the problems with variation in life.

The fourth is characterized by the evaluation of life as essentially positive or negative.

Metaphors to recognize the multiplicity of life events use semantic networks related to the idea of ​​a “container” of variety. The idea of ​​meaning in life is denoted through the use of semantic networks generally related to “movement toward a destination.”

Metaphors that imply interruptions in these patterns of change denote meaninglessness.

Metaphors can also use particular qualities of entities and objects to point out positive and negative aspects of life.

Qualitative analysis of life metaphors from the perspective of Relational Frame Theory offers valuable insights into how metaphors function in everyday life and how they can be used in clinical work.

The study is titled “A map of living: Moving through the variations of life with the guidance of metaphors.” And it has been published in the academic journal Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. (Source: Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science / Crego, A. et al. / NCYT by Amazings)