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Metaphor and gender: Do source domains invoke gender stereotypes?
Date Issued
2021
Citation
Ahrens, K., Zeng, H., & Burgers, C. (2021 Jun 25). Metaphor and gender: Do source domains invoke gender stereotypes?. RaAM 14, Vilnius University.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Metaphors are an important linguistic device in communicating and maintaining gender stereotypes (Ahrens, 2009; Koller, 2004a, b; Murphy, 2004). Although there are some studies on measures of gender stereotyping of role nouns (Gabriel et al., 2008; Misersky et al., 2014), there are no studies providing measurements related to the gender stereotyping of metaphorical source domains. Thus, little is known about to what extent specific metaphorical source domains are gender stereotyped as the concept of 'gendered metaphor' in the existing literature has been mostly assumed rather than tested.
In the present study, we conduct surveys to collect norms on the gender stereotypicality of specific constructs under common metaphorical source domains. Referring to previous literature (Deignan, 1995; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), we select five common source domains (BUILDING, JOURNEY, PLANT, WAR, and COMPETITION) to be assessed. The top 20 frequently occurring metaphorical keywords under each source domain will be used as the stimuli of the norming studies. The main research question of this study is: To what extent are the common metaphor source domains associated with masculine or feminine constructs or have no clear associations?
We will conduct norming studies by using Mechanical Turk, an on-line questionnaire program, to run experiments on 300 participants. The surveys will be designed using Likert-scale questionnaires. Two versions of questionnaires with reversed scale direction will be designed to avoid order effects. All metaphorical keywords will be presented and rated with reference to their gender stereotypicality by 300 participants. We will use statistical tests to evaluate if specific keywords are rated as more associated with femininity or masculinity in order to reflect the extent to which specific source domains are gender stereotyped.
Our findings will provide gender stereotypicality norms for frequently used metaphor source domains, which should facilitate the selection of stimulus materials for studies delving into 'gendered metaphor, such as how gendered metaphors are processed (e.g., Messer & Kennison, 2018) or the influences of gendered metaphors in judgments (e.g., Elmore & Luna-Lucero, 2017) and persuasion (e.g., Zeng, Tay, & Ahrens, 2020).
In the present study, we conduct surveys to collect norms on the gender stereotypicality of specific constructs under common metaphorical source domains. Referring to previous literature (Deignan, 1995; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), we select five common source domains (BUILDING, JOURNEY, PLANT, WAR, and COMPETITION) to be assessed. The top 20 frequently occurring metaphorical keywords under each source domain will be used as the stimuli of the norming studies. The main research question of this study is: To what extent are the common metaphor source domains associated with masculine or feminine constructs or have no clear associations?
We will conduct norming studies by using Mechanical Turk, an on-line questionnaire program, to run experiments on 300 participants. The surveys will be designed using Likert-scale questionnaires. Two versions of questionnaires with reversed scale direction will be designed to avoid order effects. All metaphorical keywords will be presented and rated with reference to their gender stereotypicality by 300 participants. We will use statistical tests to evaluate if specific keywords are rated as more associated with femininity or masculinity in order to reflect the extent to which specific source domains are gender stereotyped.
Our findings will provide gender stereotypicality norms for frequently used metaphor source domains, which should facilitate the selection of stimulus materials for studies delving into 'gendered metaphor, such as how gendered metaphors are processed (e.g., Messer & Kennison, 2018) or the influences of gendered metaphors in judgments (e.g., Elmore & Luna-Lucero, 2017) and persuasion (e.g., Zeng, Tay, & Ahrens, 2020).
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