Psychological Development and Education ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (2): 158-165.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2016.02.04

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The Vertical Spatial Metaphor of Moral Concepts: Psychological Reality and Bidirectional Mapping

JIA Ning1, JIANG Gaofang2   

  1. 1. College of Education, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024;
    2. College of Education, Cangzhou Normal University, Cangzhou 061001
  • Online:2016-03-15 Published:2016-03-15

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Abstract: Through three experiments, the research investigated the psychological reality of vertical space metaphor of moral concepts and its bidirectional mapping. In experiment 1, subjects memorized the facial images and moral words. The results showed:when moral words appeared in the upper space, or immoral words appeared in the lower space, the accuracy of the recognition of words and faces was better. These results suggest there is the psychological reality of vertical space metaphor of Chinese traditional moral concept. Experiment 2 employed a moral evaluation task.In this task, subjects evaluated facial images located in upper space of the screen as more moral and those pictures located in lower space of the screen as more immoral. The results confirm the influence of space information on the moral evaluation. In experiment 3, subjects were required to memory the moral words and its location. The results showed:subjects judged moral words appeared more often in upper space, but the judgments of immoral words is the opposite. The results suggest the judgments of spatial information can be influenced by the metaphor of moral concepts. The conclusions of the study are:the psychological reality of vertical space metaphor of moral concepts exists, and it's bidirectional mapping.

Key words: moral concepts, vertical spatial metaphor, psychological reality, bidirectional mapping

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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