Metaphor and Persuasive Communication: A Multifunctional Approach

Metaphors are pervasive in both mass communication and interpersonal exchanges and can play an important role in persuasion. Metaphor serves multiple functions in persuasive communication, and the effect of metaphor on persuasion is potentially mediated by multiple psychological process mechanisms. Nevertheless, we propose that past and future research in this area can be organized or grouped into three simple categories. First, metaphorical statements can activate information that is directly applied to the communication topic and thereby influence attitudes toward the communication topic. Second, metaphorical language may influence impressions of the communication source and thereby impact attitudes toward the communication topic. Third, metaphors may affect attitudes toward the communication topic by influencing the direction or amount of elaboration that takes place when recipients process literal statements contained in the communication. A review of past research is organized into these three categories, and proposals for future research in each category are introduced. It is concluded that future research within each of these domains should focus on two related questions: under what conditions does metaphor elicit a given psychological process in the receiver (e.g., attribute mapping, valence transfer), and under what conditions will a given process result in an increase versus decrease in persuasion?     

Agonistic interpersonal striving: social-cognitive mechanism of cardiovascular risk in youth?

The social competence model (SCM) of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk identifies combinations of goal-oriented strivings, expressive behaviors, and social skill deficits that contribute to persisting interpersonal difficulties and chronic health-damaging stress in youth. SCM hypotheses were tested on 187 Black and White adolescents who completed the Social Competence Interview (SCI) and later underwent ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring. Cluster analyses of stress narratives assessed via SCI identified 3 predicted stress profiles: agonistic (interpersonally focused), transcendent (self-development focused), and avoidant. Group comparisons using social, hemodynamic, and ABP data supported the SCM hypothesis that youths who exhibit the agonistic striving profile display diminished social competence, negative social impact, and heightened cardiovascular responding during a stress interview, and elevated ABP during normal social interactions, thus suggesting higher risk of CVD.     

The basis of preference for lexical words in 6-month-old infants

Six-month-old English-learning infants have been shown to prefer English lexical over English grammatical words. The preference is striking because there are few grammatical words in total number but each occurs far more frequently in input speech than any individual lexical word. This could be because lexical words are universally more salient and interesting acoustic and phonological forms than are grammatical words. Alternatively, familiarity may play a role since infants may know some specific lexical words. Here we explore the first possibility by testing Chinese-learning infants’ response to English lexical and grammatical words. These infants, who had virtually no prior exposure to English and thus were unfamiliar with any English words, nevertheless preferred to listen to English lexical words, as in the case of English-learning infants. This finding increases the plausibility that it is the acoustic and phonological salience of lexical words that determines the preference for lexical words in infants.     

The need for an evolving concept of validity in industrial and personnel psychology: Psychometric, legal, and emerging issues

The Trinitarian view of validity (namely content, criterion-related, and construct) has dominated psychology for almost a half century. In industrial and personnel psychology especially, content and criterion-related (in particular) forms of validity have served as workhorses. Such a limited focus has lead to a stagnation of the area and the inability to incorporate more theory into the research and practice of personnel psychology. Therefore, we review the evolution of the concept of validity in the psychology discipline, with a particular emphasis on industrial and personnel psychology. We then review the legal and statutory history within industrial and personnel psychology that has helped to shape the concept of validity over the years. Finally, we examine some emerging trends in industrial and personnel psychology, including the issue of graduate training, which may have important consequences on how we conceptualize validity in the future in both our research and practice of personnel psychology.     

“I'll Take Gender Differences for $1000!” Domain-Specific Intellectual Success on “Jeopardy”

A great deal of laboratory research has demonstrated that women underestimate their intellect and abilities, and we studied whether this tendency manifested itself outside the laboratory by examining the performance of men and women on the television game show Jeopardy. Information about the masculinity and femininity of the topic categories for 65 games was collected, and selections, answers,wagering strategies, and earnings were noted for 195 White men and women contestants on the show. Men were more likely than women to appear as contestants, made most of the selections in the game, and won more money. Until the end of the game, men selected and correctly answered a disproportional number of questions from masculine topic categories, which appeared more often during the first round of play. Women chose more feminine and neutral questions than did men, and correctly answered those questions at a proportional rate. Wagering strategies differed late in the game, as men bet a higher percent of their earnings than did women, but only when wagering on masculine topics. Several explanations for differing performance of men and women on Jeopardyare offered, including confidence in ability due to self-estimation of intelligence, differential use of evaluative feedback, and the gender role appropriateness of demonstrating intellect.     

Psycholinguistic correlations of academic achievement

This research investigated the relationship of the ITPA subtests to measures of academic performance (i.e., the California Achievement Test). Subjects were 137 9-year old children similar to those used in the standardization sample of the 1968 revision of the ITPA. Two kinds of data analyses were undertaken-1. correlation coefficients among the variables were derived, and 2. the subjects were divided into low, average, and high groups based on their CAT performance, and analyses of covariance were run to determine the significance of ITPA differences. The results failed to support the hypothesis that psycholinguistic abilities, except those which contribute to the Grammatic Closure subtest, are related to academic proficiency.