What you say affects your life in ways you don’t realize.
According to the seminal work of researchers George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, everyday metaphors relate to how we experience the world around us. In English, we “move forward” with our lives and do not “retreat” to the past. We are talking about people with whom we have to deal with “ice-cold” and “hard” issues.
Using sophisticated research, researchers have discovered that some of these metaphorical expressions are not just expressions, but are based on our emotional experience. This mind-body connection is called “embodied.” to know.” The study of embodied cognition, the connection between places/objects and experiences, helps us understand and improve our relationship with the physical world.
Some useful findings to date:
- When we think about the future, we lean forward a little, and when we look at the past, we lean back a little.
- We talk about being “close” to people with whom we share our thoughts. Private space Research shows that we tend to feel closer to people we agree with. Furniture that can be easily moved helps us maintain a comfortable social distance from other people.
- “Up” is usually associated with good things – such as heaven and penthouses or “being on top of the world” and “down” with negative things such as hell and dungeons. Place objects and spaces to take advantage of this heightened effect.
- When we’re in a dark space, we’re less honest—even if that dark space is a few shades darker than what we’d get from wearing regular sunglasses. In general, we associate black with immoral things, and its opposite, white, with opposite concepts.
- When we are dishonest, we feel physically dirty, and cleaning up makes us feel more moral. A “clean record” seems like a real-life goal. People who smell clean scents (such as citrus-scented Windex) are fairer and more generous. “Clean” where people may be tempted to behave admirably or where “good” behavior is highly demanded smell goes a long way to facilitate the necessary actions.
- People who are socially withdrawn feel physically colder than people who aren’t, and when people feel warmer, they bond more with their friends—there seems to be a hidden truth to this “cold shoulder.” When we are close to other people, we sense their body temperature, and when a place is hotter because the thermostat is turned up, we perceive other people in that space to be socially closer to us; We have a “warm” relationship with them. Think about this effect when considering the temperature in public spaces or setting the thermostat in the family room at home.
- Important issues are heavy on our minds – remember the 60’s hate comic “Heavy, Man”. Even more important things seem heavier. For example, keep this effect in mind when choosing frames for personal images.
Researchers have also found that the first language we speak continues to influence how we experience the created world, even later in life and when we use another.
For example, although the first language separated the world of color with names, you do so throughout your life. If it gives light and dark blue names with completely different sounds, and doesn’t separate them with an adjective like in English, you’ll be faster at distinguishing between examples of those blues throughout your life.
Another example: If your first language classifies nouns as masculine or feminine, as is the case with French and Spanish, this will be important even after you leave your home country. If your native language uses a feminine article with the word “chair,” say you’re 35 years old and living far from your first home, you’ll find the “best kind” of chairs to be relatively curvy and elegant, but if your first language uses a masculine article with the word “chair,” you may find the best, most representative examples of chairs straight and angular. You continue to use them gender unconsciously stereotype objects, the gift of your first language to your adult mind.
Language affects your experience of space in several powerful and often unknown ways.
