Psychological Science ›› 2013, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (2): 328-334.

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The Vertical-Spatial Metaphor of Emotions in Text Reading

1,   

  • Received:2012-08-16 Revised:2012-11-23 Online:2013-03-20 Published:2013-03-20

为什么快乐在“上”,悲伤在 “下”? ——语篇阅读中情绪的垂直空间隐喻

吕军梅,鲁中义   

  1. 河北师范大学教育学院
  • 通讯作者: 鲁中义

Abstract: “Metaphors we live by ”which is written by Lakoff and Johnson puts forward that met- aphors exist generally in daily life, covering language, thought and behavior, almost everywhere. They consider that spatial metaphor is the most important and basic cognitive domain in all the m- etaphors. The vertical-spatial metaphor is a cognitive style which is mapping from up-down spati- al orientation concept to other cognitive domains. In this paper, two experiments were conducted to investigate the psychological reality of the vertical-spatial metaphor of emotions which is "hap- py is up, sad is down" in text reading. In experiment 1, 25 participants are assigned to read an emotional discourse presenting sente- nce by sentence at first, then to react to the letter "F" or "J" presenting above or below the screen. The purpose of the experiment is to explore whether reading different emotional discourses would produce vertical-spatial metaphor or not. The results show that subjects react quickly to the letters which present above the spatial location while reading positive emotional discourses, and react qu- ickly to the letters which present in the bottom of the spatial location while reading negative emot- ional discourses. In other words, there is a mapping from the source domain to the target domain of the vertical-spatial metaphor of emotions in text. In experiment 2, 30 participants read text containing a spatial displacement at first, then judge the gender of the emotional pictures presenting above or below the screen at random by unrelating task paradigm. The purpose of the experiment is to explore whether reading different discourses c- ontaining different spatial displacements would affect responses to different emotional pictures of subjects or not. Because the locations of the emotional pictures are presenting at random, the effe- ct of its presenting position to the results of the experiment has been balanced, and we needn’t co- nsider of the effect of it. The results show that the spatial factors affect the reactions to emotional pictures. That is, subjects response fast to positive emotional pictures while reading discourse con- taining moving up in space, and response fast to negative emotional pictures while reading discou- rse containing moving down in space.In other words, there is a mapping from the target domain to the source domain of vertical-spatial metaphor of emotions in text. This study reveals that the vertical-spatial metaphor of emotions exist in discourse context, and there is a bidirectional mapping between space, the original domain, and mood, the target domain in nature.

Key words: text reading ,vertical-spatial metaphor, positive emotions, negative emotions

摘要: 以具有一定情境的语篇作为实验材料,采用引导范式和无关任务范式,探讨了“快乐是上,悲伤是下”这一情绪的垂直空间隐喻在语篇阅读中的心理现实性。实验1要求被试阅读情绪语篇后,对呈现在屏幕上方或下方的字母“F”或“J”进行判断。结果发现,被试阅读积极情绪语篇后对呈现在空间位置上方的字母反应更快,阅读消极情绪语篇后对呈现在空间位置下方的字母反应更快,表明语篇阅读中存在情绪的垂直空间隐喻的始源域向目标域映射的心理现实性。实验2要求被试阅读含有空间位移的语篇后对随机呈现在屏幕上方或下方的图片中面孔人物的性别进行判断。结果发现被试阅读含有在空间中向上移动的语篇后对积极情绪图片反应更快,阅读含有在空间中向下移动的语篇后对消极情绪图片的反应更快,说明语篇阅读中存在情绪的垂直空间隐喻的目标域向始源域映射的心理现实性。研究表明:语篇阅读中读者可以产生情绪的垂直空间隐喻,并且空间这一始源域和情绪这一目标域具有双向映射的性质。

关键词: 语篇阅读 垂直空间隐喻 积极情绪 消极情绪