通過3個實驗探討寬容概念與大小概念之間的隱喻關系。實驗1采用Stroop范式驗證了寬容概念的大小隱喻效應;實驗2采用IAT范式,證實了被試對寬容概念的加工會影響他們的大小感知,從而表明了人們對抽象概念的加工會影響對具體概念的感知。實驗3采用社會情境范式表明,此隱喻效應會影響被試對圖片中陌生人物寬容性的感知,證實了該隱喻表征的社會性。結果表明,寬容概念存在大小隱喻表征且該隱喻表征具有雙向性及社會性。

Metaphor is an important way by which people understand the world. In the present studies, we addressed the issue of whether tolerance can be represented by size metaphorically. We found that the concept of tolerance could be represented metaphorically through Stroop task(study 1) and this metaphorical representation was bi-directional in an IAT paradigm(study 2). We also found that such a metaphorical process could influence subjects perception of the tolerance of strangers in the pictures(study 3). The results indicate that tolerance can be represented by size, metaphorically, bi-directionally and socially. Future directions and limits are also discussed.