Study 3: Metaphors and Maxims

Abstract

The use of questionnaires, as in Studies 1 and 2, is one way of investigating the way people think about emotions. Another way is through an examination of the language that people use to communicate their thoughts and feelings. It is largely through language that we conceive, construct, and legitimize our everyday social reality (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). In this chapter we examine the implicit theories of hope as reflected in maxims, folk sayings, and colloquialisms. More explicitly, we examine the metaphors found in these figures of speech. Kovecses (1986, 1988; Lakoff & Kovecses, 1983) has used metaphors to reconstruct the cognitive models of anger and love implicit among Americans. We follow his example in broad outline.