ABOUT METAPHORICAL THINKING

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-15 16:05

A metaphor is a word or expression that is used figuratively. Someone simply loves autumn, but someone does not like the soul in it, someone achieves goals, and someone conquers the peaks. A person's ability to solve problems outside the box and express thoughts using metaphors is called metaphorical intelligence.

When you metaphorically express your speech, you not only convey the meaning of your message, but also create a whole spectrum of images and associations, both hemispheres of the brain are turned on - rational and creative in yourself and in the listener.

Metaphorical thinking is an incredibly important skill, no matter what area you move in. Advertising, business, communications, cinema - all these areas use metaphors not just for show, but because of their powerful influence on the imagination and the human brain. Like any skill, metaphorical thinking can be developed and applied with success.

To creatively cope with the tasks that life throws at us (did you notice a metaphor here?:)), you need to develop the ability to connect in a new way, in your own way, all the accumulated facts, thoughts and feelings. The process by which we transform the meaning of one thing into something else is one of the important features of human intelligence. Without symbols, the ability to understand them, there would be no writing, no numbers, no dramatic art, no painting.

Metaphorical thinking is inherent in all of us to one degree or another. Moreover, our language is very metaphorical, many idioms that we do not even think about are metaphors.

From the Greek language, this word is translated as "transfer" and means a comparison of unrelated phenomena based on the presence of one or more similar qualities.

Metaphor is a literary term, but it can be used in any area of life, up to technical developments.

A direct comparison between two unrelated things is called a metaphor. For example, the expression "Time is money" is a metaphor and evokes a powerful image in the head. How often do we hear this expression? Probably very often and in a different context each time. Thinking well, you can compose your own metaphors based on the original. Time well spent is the right investment.

A manager who stands in front of his employees and says “We need to get this job done quickly” will not have the same effect as a manager who uses the metaphor “As we all know, time is money”.

Metaphors can improve any type of communication. They can give impetus to any of your phrases or help explain complex concepts in simple, clear associations. By the way, this technique was often used by the hero Hugh Laurie in "House Doctor". This was done, of course, only for the audience, for the sake of which any creation is filmed.

Metaphorical thinking can also be used to solve problems: use them to generate ideas. The very process of creating metaphors launches an extensive chain of associations in the brain and does not allow one to become attached to one word or phrase.

The usual metaphor format is "A is B" ("time is money"). They can also be indirect and implied: "This is a half-baked idea." Often, by the way, they are confused with comparisons. Comparisons use the word "how": "time is like money," "an idea is like half-baked food." Sometimes comparisons sound stronger than metaphors, although the essence of the expression remains exactly the same.

The benefits of metaphorical thinking

The ability to explain complex things in simple language

I remember how painful it was for my mother, a middle-aged woman, to understand the Windows operating system and additional programs. We suffered together for a long time: she - from the inability to understand new information, and I - from the inability to explain to her the principle of action. The situation was saved by a metaphor.

Imagining that the operating system is a study, we were able to find analogies for almost all components. Word is white paper on the table, folders are regular folders of papers (or desk drawers), and files are manuscripts, music cassettes, photographs, or film tapes. And as in any office, in our quest for order, we try to sort different types of media into boxes and boxes. Music - in one box, video - in another, important papers - in the third, entertainment literature - in the fourth. And copying is just transferring documents from one folder to another. Audio player - tape recorder, video player - TV. Etc.

After a metaphorical explanation, things went much faster. Thus, we can convey new ideas to investors or propose new ways of developing production to the management. By presenting new information through analogies with the existing one, it is much easier to convey it than through the most detailed reports, graphs and diagrams.

The ability to embed emotion in your message

It is known that emotions play a huge role in decision making and perception of information. When we convey our message through devoid of sparks, but logical statements, we only touch the intellectual part of the mental field of the listener. But if we have not felt the information, if it has not touched us through delight, joy, or vice versa, indignation and disgust, it will be perceived faintly and will soon be forgotten. It is for this reason that slogans always carry an emotional charge.

Compare:

"We have to do this job better than the competition!"

"In this competitive race, we must come to the finish line first and get the main prize!"

In the second case, employees immediately scroll in their heads pictures of running athletes, and then the joyful face of the winner with a cup in his hands on the podium. Isn't that much more motivating than the lifeless "we need to do this job better"?

Search for non-standard solutions

Metaphors are used even in technical development. How is this possible? If you think about it, then much of what we have created takes its origins from analogs with wildlife. Even a cart and a car, the most reliable and widespread (each for its time) means of transportation have 4 wheels, by analogy with animals, because such an arrangement of limbs is most beneficial. And let's not forget that they came to replace the horse.

Scientists are now developing aircraft that will exploit the aerodynamic properties of insects.

Using analogies, you can develop new models of any kind of technology, solve problems in business and production, looking for an extraordinary approach.

Explaining Difficult Ideas

By associating an unfamiliar idea with a more familiar one, you can evoke a deeper understanding of complex ideas and concepts. Let's say you need to explain the concept of the business cycle. You can use many different words, definitions and much more to explain ten minutes, leaving the audience bored and confused. Then you can use graphs and charts to increase understanding and engagement.

Or you can use a metaphor: "The business cycle is a pendulum swinging up and down from the peak of prosperity to economic decline and back to prosperity." The metaphor captures the essence of the business cycle in such a way that the listener instantly connects it with a continuous back and forth movement. A vivid image also helps the audience understand and remember the idea.

Building momentum

Metaphors are perfect for creating momentum and something more memorable. Their use is a technique that is often used in marketing and advertising. But it is also effective for presentation, speech and everyday conversation.

By using metaphor, you get a complex message across more quickly. For example, if you want to convey the value and features of a new vacuum cleaner, you can demonstrate knowledge of its characteristics and try to sell it to a person, explaining that he cannot live without it. Metaphor: "The vacuum cleaner is so powerful that it can suck the light out of the black hole." A vivid image helps your idea to stand out from the general background of homogeneous ideas.

Communication

Determine what exactly you will communicate with the person about.

Determine the essence of the message you want to convey.

Think of different areas of life that share common characteristics, ideas, emotions, and applications.

You can find dozens of suitable metaphors. It takes some practice to find the best one.

Thinking outside the box

When you use a metaphor to link two ideas together, you are bringing together elements that have little or no logical connection. By breaking the laws of logic in this way, metaphors are able to develop the creative sides of your brain - those parts of it that are stimulated by images, ideas and concepts.

For example, you want to cut production costs. You can attack a problem purely logically through research, technology introduction, and manufacturing process analysis. It might help save some money, but what about the jackpot?

Problem solving in the world's most powerful companies often begins with a brainstorming session, followed by a thorough analysis of the most interesting ideas. Brainstorming is great for squeezing out creative juices; it can open the floodgates of ideas (more metaphors!). However, people can be limited to the image of a specific problem and not go beyond the obvious.

When you use metaphors, you associate the problem with something less obvious. In this case, the problem opens up to you from a completely different perspective - one from which you would not even think to consider it. You can link the cost savings to weight loss. Now you can focus on ways to lose weight, and not be attached to costs. If there are a dozen such metaphors for your problem, you will go beyond traditional thinking and become able to think like you never did before. It is these ideas that are called creative.

Development of metaphorical intelligence

Despite the fact that we often use metaphors in speech, this does not always guarantee the development of metaphorical thinking - after all, we simply remember idioms, not create them. In order to expand the boundaries of imagination and learn figurative perception, take on board these simple exercises.

Call items by different names

We used to call objects with nouns: cup, stool, coat, bottle, backpack. Try to give them new names, expressed in phrases that do not use the very name of the thing.

Reservoir for morning vigor (coffee cup);

My winter cocoon (coat);

Hard shell of water (bottle).

Try to give things fancy, but understandable nicknames. You can involve your friends in this process, turning it into "guessing games": you name the invented metaphorical name, and the friend guesses what you mean.

Explain the essence of the issue through associations

You can do this while chatting with friends, at work, or simply replaying the exercise in your head. It all depends on how ready the environment is for the perception of metaphors and how appropriate such constructions are in certain situations.

"I need to repair the motorcycle" - "I need to heal the iron horse."

“I would like to make repairs in the apartment” - “It's time for my home to refresh the image”.

Look for metaphors

The previous two exercises were about creating metaphors, and this involves the opposite process. We will decipher pre-existing comparisons in speech. Reading books, watching films and even just talking, think about what phrases are metaphors, according to what similar properties they were formed.

In action movies you can often hear: "I'll feed you with lead!" This is a metaphor, and we all know perfectly well what it means - the threat to shoot. But why will I feed? Because after the shot, the lead bullet ends up in a person, like food after a meal.

Use metaphors when memorizing

This is a fairly common way of memorizing names, phone numbers, and other important pieces of information, based on comparisons.

It took me a while to remember the last name of one of my favorite actors, Benedict Cumberbatch. But in one of the articles, a joke about his last name caught my eye: "It sounds like someone sneezed." Since then, I immediately remember the Owl from the cartoon about Winnie the Pooh, and the legendary dialogue:

- … thistle …

- Bless you!

And the name of the actor immediately pops up in my memory.

Try to often compare the new with what is already in your head, and you will see that the information is much easier to memorize than it might seem.

Define a metaphor for your problem

There is no concept of the right metaphor, choose any aspect of life and come up with something. The more distant your problem and the realm of metaphor, the better. If the problem involves raising something, then the metaphor must also have a connection with the promotion, otherwise it will be difficult for you to visualize.

Boost Sales = Build Muscle

Reduce hiring costs = Reduce bread prices

Attract more investors = Harvest more corn

Choose the best solutions

You don't have to take any analogy of your problem and its metaphor. Some work better than others, while others don't work at all. This is where analysis and logic come in handy.

Let's practice our metaphorical intelligence and try the following exercises. They will not determine your mental capacity, but they will help you see the metaphors around you, which, in turn, can change your thinking

1. How many images and objects can you see by observing the clouds for three minutes?

2. When doing "mindless" homework, such as washing the dishes, try to be the rhythm of this process. What will this rhythm be like when you rub, wash, rinse? Sing the rhythm. Give it a name. What other “pointless” homework has a similar rhythm? It is a sound metaphor for an object or activity

3. Highlight a mechanical sound, such as the ticking of a turn signal in a car, and simulate it. Memorize the rhythm, beat it inside yourself and then imitate it in conversation. Now recognize it in other people's speech. Watch the world begin to move to your rhythm. A similar thing happened to Twyla in a taxi on the way to rehearsal. The turn signal reminded her of children jumping over a rope to the rhythm of a counting rhyme. Thoughts went to the dancers standing at opposite ends of the line on the stage. This image Twyla tried out in rehearsal, while it still sounded in my head. And all this thanks to the turn signal signal

4. Explore the linguistic roots of words. Where will it take you? How deep in the past should you go? What will you think about when you get to the bottom of the source? For example, the word "tragedy" is rooted in the Greek word τράγος (trages), which means "goat." in ancient times, these animals were sacrificed to the gods. According to legend, several goats somehow wandered into the vineyard of the gods and ate the leaves from it, greatly angering them. The goats were convicted and sentenced. Over time, the Greeks decided that it was better to preserve useful animals in the economy, and instead of bloody sacrifices, they invented rituals and performances designed to please the gods. The heroes of these performances, named as tragedies in honor of the goats, took on the guilt of the goats, becoming the scapegoats. fortunately, their murder was symbolic. This is a theatrical metaphor

five. Find two pieces of art that you can relate to each other. What is their connection? When you compare works and begin to see them in a new light, then they begin to belong to you to some extent. Twyla once found herself at a grand exhibition of paintings by Picasso and Matisse, where incredible parallels between the works of two artists were brilliantly demonstrated. But more than these comparisons, she was struck by the sudden realization that Matisse would never have created paper silhouettes in his later period if not for Picasso's youthful paper collages made thirty years earlier. The combination of the works of the two authors revealed the truth. This is a metaphor for sampling

6. Look the daffodil in the face. Try to see another person in your image, then, on the contrary, - yourself in the image of this person. Imagine how you would live if you had the personal qualities of this person (appearance, taste, inclinations) or this person had yours. This is a metaphor for empathy. And it is very common. This is what is called "getting into someone else's skin." People do this every day

7. Choose metaphors for everything that happens in your life. What is your morning like? How does the boss behave? What does the house opposite look like? Liven up events, emotions and thoughts with metaphorical vivid images. Life will become brighter

Metaphors are all around us, and it's never too late to develop your MQ. Practice creating metaphors, it's not as hard as it sounds. At first you can come up with them on a piece of paper, and after a while they will come to you automatically.

Metaphor develops thinking: by looking for analogies, creating unexpected images in colloquial speech, training new techniques for perceiving information through associative images, we make our intellect more flexible. If we were to compare our brain to an athlete, we would say that metaphor develops agility and speed. Thoughts are faster than light anyway, and if you give them a meaningful acceleration … Embrace the opening perspectives, and you will understand how enormous resources are hidden in our brains.