The War on Prevention: Bellicose Cancer Metaphors Hurt (Some) Prevention Intentions

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Volumn 41, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 66-77

  Hauser, David J ^a   Schwarz, Norbert ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

behavioral intention; cancer; health information; metaphoric framing; metaphors

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; BEHAVIOR; FEMALE; HEALTH PROMOTION; HUMAN; INFORMATION DISSEMINATION; LITERATURE; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; NEOPLASMS; PROCEDURES; PSYCHOLOGY; READING; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; FEMALE; HEALTH KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, PRACTICE; HEALTH PROMOTION; HUMANS; INFORMATION DISSEMINATION; INTENTION; MALE; METAPHOR; MIDDLE AGED; NEOPLASMS; READING; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84918560123     PISSN: 01461672     EISSN: 15527433     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0146167214557006     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Ackerman J. M.,Nocera C. C.,Bargh J. A.Incidental haptic sensations influence social judgments and decisions.Science. 2010;328:1712-1715
2. AktipisC. A.MaleyC. C.NeubergS. L. (2010). Psychological barriers to evolutionary thinking in medicine. Evolution and Medicine Review. Retrieved from http://evmedreview.com/?p=231
3. Cancer facts & figures 2012. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society; 2012:
4. American Institute for Cancer Research. (2012, October9). Recommendations for cancer prevention. Retrieved from http://www.aicr.org/reduce-your-cancer-risk/recommendations-for-cancer-prevention/
5. Annas G. J.Reframing the debate on health care reform by replacing our metaphors.New England Journal of Medicine. 1995;332:744-747
6. Armitage C. J.,Conner M.Efficacy of the theory of planned behaviour: A meta-analytic review.British Journal of Social Psychology. 2001;40:471-499
7. Beliveau R.,Gingras D.Foods that fight cancer: Preventing cancer through diet. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: McClelland & Stewart; 2006:
8. Bowker J.Cancer, individual process, and control: A case study in metaphor analysis.Health Communication. 1996;8:91-104
9. Camus J. T. W.Metaphors of cancer in scientific popularization articles in the British press.Discourse Studies. 2009;11:465-495
10. Chandler J. J.,Reinhard D.,Schwarz N.To judge a book by its weight you need to know its content: Knowledge moderates the use of embodied cues.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2012;48:948-952
11. DaviesM. (2008). The Corpus of Contemporary American English: 450 million words, 1990-present. Retrieved from http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
12. Gibbs R. W.The power of metaphor: Examining its influence on social life. Landau M. J.Robinson M. D.Meier B. P., ed. Washington, DC: APA; 2014:17-40.
13. Gibbs R. W.,Franks H.Embodied metaphor in women’s narratives about their experiences with cancer.Health Communication. 2002;14:139-165
14. Goatly A.Washing the brain—Metaphor and hidden ideology. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins; 2007:
15. Gollwitzer P. M.Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans.American Psychologist. 1999;54:493-503
16. Harrington K. J.The use of metaphor in discourse about cancer: A review of the literature.Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing. 2012;16:408-412
17. Higgins E. T.Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles. Higgins E. T.Kruglanski A. W., ed. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 1996:133-168.
18. Hovland C. I.,Janis I. L.,Kelley H. H.Communication and persuasion: Psychological studies of opinion change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; 1953:
19. Jia L.,Smith E. R.Distance makes the metaphor grow stronger: A psychological distance model of metaphor use.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013;49:492-497
20. Jones L. L.,Estes Z.Roosters, robins, and alarm clocks: Aptness and conventionality in metaphor comprehension.Journal of Memory and Language. 2006;55:18-32
21. Jostmann N. B.,Lakens D.,Schubert T. W.Weight as an embodiment of importance.Psychological Science. 2009;20:1169-1174
22. Kato P. M.,Cole S. W.,Bradlyn A. S.,Pollock B. H.A video game improves behavioral outcomes in adolescents and young adults with cancer: A randomized trial.Pediatrics. 2008;122:305-317
23. Keefer L. A.,Landau M. J.,Sullivan D.,Rothschild Z. K.Exploring metaphor’s epistemic function: Uncertainty moderates metaphor-consistent priming effects on social perceptions.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2011;47:657-660
24. Khalil G. E.When losing means winning: The impact of conflict in a digital game on young adults’ intentions to get protected from cancer.Games for Health: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications. 2012;1:279-286
25. Kushi L. H.,Doyle C.,McCullough M.,Rock C. L.,Demark-Wahnefried W.,Bandera E. V.American Cancer Society guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention.CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2012;62:30-67
26. Lakoff G.,Johnson M.Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 1980:
27. Landau M. J.,Meier B. P.,Keefer L. A.A metaphor-enriched social cognition.Psychological Bulletin. 2010;136:1045-1067
28. Landau M. J.,Sullivan D.,Greenberg J.Evidence that self-relevant motives and metaphoric framing interact to influence political and social attitudes.Psychological Science. 2009;20:1421-1427
29. Landauer T. K.,Dumais S. T.A solution to Plato’s problem: The latent semantic analysis theory of acquisition, induction, and representation of knowledge.Psychological Review. 1997;104:211-240
30. Lee S. W. S.,Schwarz N.Framing love: When it hurts to think we were made for each other.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2014a;54:61-67
31. Lee S. W. S.,Schwarz N.The power of metaphor: Examining its influence on social life. Landau M. J.Robinson M. D.Meier B. P., ed. Washington, DC: APA; 2014b:85-108.
32. LennonC. (2009, June3). Ovarian cancer: Fighting for a cure. Harper’s Bazaar. Retrieved from http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/health-wellness-articles/barack-obama-ovarian-cancer
33. McGuire W. J.Experimental social psychology. McClintock C. G., ed. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston; 1972:108-141.
34. Meier B. P.,Hauser D. J.,Robinson M. D.,Friesen C. K.,Schjeldahl K.What’s “up” with God?: Vertical space as a representation of the divine.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2007;93:699-710
35. Meier B. P.,Robinson M. D.Why the sunny side is up: Associations between affect and vertical position.Psychological Science. 2004;15:243-247
36. Mukherjee S.The emperor of all Maladies: A biography of cancer. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster; 2010:
37. Nesse R. M.,Williams G. C.Why we get sick: The new science of Darwinian medicine. New York, NY: Vintage Books; 1996:
38. Ottati V.,Renstrom R. A.Metaphor and persuasive communication: A multifunctional approach.Social & Personality Psychology Compass. 2010;4:783-794
39. Ottati V.,Renstrom R. A.,Price E.The power of metaphor: Examining its influence on social life. Landau M. J.Robinson M. D.Meier B. P., ed. Washington, DC: APA; 2014:179-202.
40. Ottati V.,Rhoads S.,Graesser A. C.The effect of metaphor on processing style in a persuasion task: A motivational resonance model.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1999;77:688-697
41. Reisfield G. M.,Wilson G. R.Use of metaphor in the discourse on cancer.Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2004;22:4024-4027
42. Rosenthal R.Combining results of independent studies.Psychological Bulletin. 1978;85:185-193
43. Scherer A. M.,Scherer L. D.,Fagerlin A.Getting ahead of illness using metaphors to influence medical decision making.Medical Decision Making. 2014;:
44. Schubert T. W.Your highness: Vertical positions as perceptual symbols of power.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2005;89:1-21
45. Sontag S.Illness as metaphor. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1978:
46. Sopory P.Metaphor in formative evaluation and message design: An application to relationships and alcohol use.Health Communication. 2005;17:149-172
47. Sopory P.,Dillard J. P.The persuasive effects of metaphor: A meta-analysis.Human Communication Research. 2002;28:382-419
48. Stephenson M. T.,Witte K.Fear, threat, and perceptions of efficacy from frightening skin cancer messages.Public Health Reviews. 1998;26:147-174
49. Stibbe A.The metaphorical construction of illness in Chinese culture.Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. 1996;7:177-188
50. Stroebe W.,Strack F.The alleged crisis and the illusion of exact replication.Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2014;9:59-71
51. ThibodeauP. H.BoroditskyL. (2011). Metaphors we think with: The role of metaphor in reasoning. PLoS ONE, 6, e16782. Retrieved from http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0016782
52. Thibodeau P. H.,Durgin F. H.Productive figurative communication: Conventional metaphors facilitate the comprehension of related novel metaphors.Journal of Memory and Language. 2008;58:521-540
53. Thibodeau P. H.,Durgin F. H.Metaphor aptness and conventionality: A processing fluency account.Metaphor and Symbol. 2011;26:206-226
54. Williams L. E.,Bargh J. A.Experiencing physical warmth promotes interpersonal warmth.Science. 2008;322:606-607
55. Food, nutrition, physical activity, and the prevention of cancer: A global perspective. Washington DC: American Institute for Cancer Research; 2007: