Keeping Morality “on the Straight” and Never “on the Bend”: Metaphorical Representations of Moral Concepts in Straightness and Curvature
The study of moral conceptual metaphors has been an important topic in recent years. In Chinese culture, the concepts of curvature and straightness are given certain semantic contents, in which curvature refers to being sly while straightness refers to having integrity. In the present study, we used...
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MDPI AG
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Behavioral Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/4/295 |
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| author | Xiaoyan Zhu Yanbing Huang Wenxuan Liu Zhao Yu Yan Duan Xianyou He Wei Zhang |
| author_facet | Xiaoyan Zhu Yanbing Huang Wenxuan Liu Zhao Yu Yan Duan Xianyou He Wei Zhang |
| author_sort | Xiaoyan Zhu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The study of moral conceptual metaphors has been an important topic in recent years. In Chinese culture, the concepts of curvature and straightness are given certain semantic contents, in which curvature refers to being sly while straightness refers to having integrity. In the present study, we used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) paradigm (Experiment 1) and the Stroop paradigm (Experiment 2) to investigate whether there are metaphorical representations of curvature and straightness in moral concepts. The results revealed that the mean reaction time in compatible trials (i.e., moral words accompanied by a straight pattern and immoral words accompanied by a curved pattern) was significantly shorter than that in incompatible trials (i.e., moral words accompanied by a curved pattern and immoral words accompanied by a straight pattern). The Stroop paradigm showed that reaction times were significantly reduced when moral words were presented in a straight font, but there was no significant difference between the presentation of immoral words in a straight font and that in a curved font. The results suggest that mental representations of moral concepts are associated with straightness and curvature in Chinese culture. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:14:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f73633fbe92c4e88bf7251c5fc598027 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-328X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:14:33Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Behavioral Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-f73633fbe92c4e88bf7251c5fc5980272023-11-17T18:20:44ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2023-03-0113429510.3390/bs13040295Keeping Morality “on the Straight” and Never “on the Bend”: Metaphorical Representations of Moral Concepts in Straightness and CurvatureXiaoyan Zhu0Yanbing Huang1Wenxuan Liu2Zhao Yu3Yan Duan4Xianyou He5Wei Zhang6Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, ChinaCenter for Studies of Psychological Application, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, ChinaCenter for Studies of Psychological Application, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, ChinaCenter for Studies of Psychological Application, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, ChinaCenter for Studies of Psychological Application, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, ChinaCenter for Studies of Psychological Application, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, ChinaCenter for Studies of Psychological Application, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, ChinaThe study of moral conceptual metaphors has been an important topic in recent years. In Chinese culture, the concepts of curvature and straightness are given certain semantic contents, in which curvature refers to being sly while straightness refers to having integrity. In the present study, we used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) paradigm (Experiment 1) and the Stroop paradigm (Experiment 2) to investigate whether there are metaphorical representations of curvature and straightness in moral concepts. The results revealed that the mean reaction time in compatible trials (i.e., moral words accompanied by a straight pattern and immoral words accompanied by a curved pattern) was significantly shorter than that in incompatible trials (i.e., moral words accompanied by a curved pattern and immoral words accompanied by a straight pattern). The Stroop paradigm showed that reaction times were significantly reduced when moral words were presented in a straight font, but there was no significant difference between the presentation of immoral words in a straight font and that in a curved font. The results suggest that mental representations of moral concepts are associated with straightness and curvature in Chinese culture.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/4/295moral conceptcurve and straight metaphorical representationimplicit association testStroop paradigmembodied cognition |
| spellingShingle | Xiaoyan Zhu Yanbing Huang Wenxuan Liu Zhao Yu Yan Duan Xianyou He Wei Zhang Keeping Morality “on the Straight” and Never “on the Bend”: Metaphorical Representations of Moral Concepts in Straightness and Curvature Behavioral Sciences moral concept curve and straight metaphorical representation implicit association test Stroop paradigm embodied cognition |
| title | Keeping Morality “on the Straight” and Never “on the Bend”: Metaphorical Representations of Moral Concepts in Straightness and Curvature |
| title_full | Keeping Morality “on the Straight” and Never “on the Bend”: Metaphorical Representations of Moral Concepts in Straightness and Curvature |
| title_fullStr | Keeping Morality “on the Straight” and Never “on the Bend”: Metaphorical Representations of Moral Concepts in Straightness and Curvature |
| title_full_unstemmed | Keeping Morality “on the Straight” and Never “on the Bend”: Metaphorical Representations of Moral Concepts in Straightness and Curvature |
| title_short | Keeping Morality “on the Straight” and Never “on the Bend”: Metaphorical Representations of Moral Concepts in Straightness and Curvature |
| title_sort | keeping morality on the straight and never on the bend metaphorical representations of moral concepts in straightness and curvature |
| topic | moral concept curve and straight metaphorical representation implicit association test Stroop paradigm embodied cognition |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/4/295 |
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