The Effects of Multiple Metaphors on Framing

Abstract

Metaphors are frequently utilized to frame discussions of complicated societal issues, which has been shown to influence decision-making. However, no studies have examined the effects of using multiple metaphors. Specifically, it is unclear how people will react when they read a report framed with two different metaphors that have different entailments. Will the metaphor introduced at the beginning of the report or the one added at the end make more of an impact? Or would the effects of the two metaphors cancel each other out? We hypothesized that participants would be more affected by the metaphor that was presented first. In the present study, participants read a series of four metaphorically framed vignettes. They were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) One Metaphor Condition: where each vignette was framed using two instantiations of a single metaphor, or (2) Two Metaphor Condition: where each vignette was framed using a single instantiation of each of two different metaphors. After reading each vignette, participants answered a question about the vignette with two possible response options, one of which was conceptually consistent with the first metaphor frame. Results supported our hypothesis: overall, participants responded in a manner congruent with the first metaphor they read significantly above chance levels. While metaphor-congruent responding was higher in the One Metaphor Condition, there was not a significant difference between the two conditions on this measure. The implications of these results and the limitations of the current study are discussed.