Spatial metaphors in thinking about other people

Spatial metaphors contribute to our capacity for abstract thought. Consistent with this idea, it has been shown that processing semantic information (related to valence, power, etc.) can bias performance in a spatial task. Advancing this line of work, the present study examined whether spatial metaphors have a role in thinking about other people. Participants read short vignettes about academic performance, health or social life, which described students in superior and inferior states. In Experiment 1, after reading each vignette, participants were explicitly asked to assign a location to each protagonist using a pen-and-paper task. Findings from this experiment provided initial indication that thinking about the protagonists could recruit spatial metaphors. In Experiments 2 and 3, each vignette was immediately followed by an implicit test of spatial association. In Experiment 2, participants performed a name-recognition task in response to the protagonists’ names presented above or below the central fixation. In this experiment, metaphorical congruency facilitated performance. In Experiment 3, participants were presented with names at central fixation, followed by a visual discrimination target (“X”/”O”) above or below fixation. In this experiment, metaphorical congruency interfered with performance. The diverging patterns of results are explained in terms of the conjunction and separation of the conceptual and perceptual components of the recognition task, respectively, in Experiments 2 and 3. Overall, the findings support the role of spatial metaphors in thinking about other people and, more generally, for the spontaneous use of space in conceptual processes.