Investigating Conceptual Metaphors for Covid-19 on Social Media

Location

Science Center Perlik Commons

Document Type

Poster - Open Access

Start Date

5-13-2022 12:00 PM

End Date

5-13-2022 2:00 PM

Abstract

Conceptual metaphors are prevalent in everyday language as a way to make sense of the world around us. The objective of these studies is to improve understanding of how people interpret common conceptual metaphors for Covid-19. These studies are relevant to research on the relationship between language and cognition. The first study had 240 participants fill out a brief online survey where they were asked to rate and describe the effectiveness of different metaphors as descriptors for Covid-19. The second study presented 80 participants with tweets and had them judge whether they believed the tweets were written by a medical expert, politician or reporter. In both studies, participants answered multiple choice questions about their attitudes to Covid-19 safety protocols and their basic background information. Both studies revealed interesting differences in how people interpret and discuss metaphors describing Covid-19 depending on demographic information and self-identified political ideology.

Keywords:

Metaphor, Covid-19, Cognitive psychology, Politics

Project Mentor(s)

Paul Thibodeau, Psychology

2022

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May 13th, 12:00 PM May 13th, 2:00 PM

Investigating Conceptual Metaphors for Covid-19 on Social Media

Science Center Perlik Commons

Conceptual metaphors are prevalent in everyday language as a way to make sense of the world around us. The objective of these studies is to improve understanding of how people interpret common conceptual metaphors for Covid-19. These studies are relevant to research on the relationship between language and cognition. The first study had 240 participants fill out a brief online survey where they were asked to rate and describe the effectiveness of different metaphors as descriptors for Covid-19. The second study presented 80 participants with tweets and had them judge whether they believed the tweets were written by a medical expert, politician or reporter. In both studies, participants answered multiple choice questions about their attitudes to Covid-19 safety protocols and their basic background information. Both studies revealed interesting differences in how people interpret and discuss metaphors describing Covid-19 depending on demographic information and self-identified political ideology.