Earth  as  "Mother"  vs.  "Bank":    The  psychological  characteris9cs  of  different  metaphors  to  describe  the  earth  Ma9as  Berre?a  (ma9as.berre?a@oberlin.edu),  Sadie  Oliver-­‐Grey  (Sadie.Oliver-­‐Grey@oberlin.edu),    Paul  H.  Thibodeau  (paul.thibodeau@oberlin.edu),  and  Cynthia  M.  Frantz  (cindy.frantz@oberlin.edu)  

Metaphor  Preference  

Using a sample of over 1300 M-Turk workers, we evaluated the psychological characteristics of 17 metaphors that one could potentially use to describe the human-earth relationship.

Scores for accuracy, thoughtfulness and novelty, as well as the five system thinking dimensions, positively correlated to scores for liking, suggesting that most questions were getting at the same thing: How much did people like the metaphor?

Metaphors  and  Systems  Thinking  Survey  

Each metaphor captures

something different about humankind’s attitude towards the planet

Each metaphor suggests

a different kind of relationship with the planet

Systems  Thinking  Metaphors  for  the  Earth  Is the earth more like a mother or a bank? Both metaphors capture something about humans relationship to the planet, but they suggest different relationships and levels of complexity. Do some metaphors help people think more accurately and effectively about humankind’s relationship to the planet? 

Can they promote systems thinking? We identified and tested several metaphors that have particular promise because of their widespread appeal and potential to encourage more complex, synergistic thinking about the human-environment relationship.

We correlated perceptions of and preferences for these metaphors with political orientation, and belief in climate change.

Democrats had a stronger preference for mother, community, network, child, parent, ancestor, and spaceship. Republicans leaned more toward gift, farm, kingdom, machine, store and bank.

Except for machine, believers of climate change gave higher scores for all metaphors, particularly mother, ancestor and park.

score

home

mother

community gift

investment

network

farm

child

parent

ancestor

kingdom

park

market

machine

spaceship

store

bank

DemsReps

score

home

mother

community gift

investment

network

farm

child

parent

ancestor

kingdom

park

market

machine

spaceship

store

bank

BelieveDont

Poli9cs  and  Climate  Change  

Systems Thinking is a way of conceptualizing reality and making decisions that emphasizes relationships and interdependencies.

Five dimensions, in the form of survey questions, were used to measure how much a metaphor promoted systems thinking.

Complex: Does this metaphor make the earth seem more complex or more simple? Connected: Does this metaphor make you feel more or less connected to the environment? Impact: How much does this metaphor make you feel that humans affect the environment? Affected: How much does this metaphor make you feel that humans are affected by the environment?

Dynamic: Does this metaphor make you feel as though the earth is static and unmoving, or that it is constantly changing?

home

mother

community gift

investment

network

farm

child

parent

ancestor

kingdom

park

market

machine

spaceship

store

bank

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

FavoriteLeast

Pentagonal Representation, where each corner of the pentagon represents a dimension of systems thinking

score

home

mother

community gift

investment

network

farm

child

parent

ancestor

kingdom

park

market

machine

spaceship

store

bank

DemsReps

score

home

mother

community gift

investment

network

farm

child

parent

ancestor

kingdom

park

market

machine

spaceship

store

bank

BelieveDont

Rank Metaphor Score1 home 2.30 2 mother 1.44 3 community 1.32 4 gift 0.84 5 investment 0.69 6 network 0.56 7 farm 0.36 8 child 0.26 9 parent 0.21 10 ancestor -0.05 11 kingdom -0.12 12 park -0.83 13 market -0.97 14 machine -1.37 15 spaceship -1.37 16 store -1.74 17 bank -1.92

Who participated in the study? (N = 993)Age 33.4 (12.6)

Gender 38% male Language 96% native English speakers Education 89% completed at least some college Political

Affiliation 40% Democrat; 34% Independent;

20% Republican Ideology 42.3/100 (27.9)

Area 32% urban; 48% suburban; 19% rural Income ~$35k

RANK Complex Connected Impact Affected Dynamic1 Network Home Home Home Network 2 Machine Mother Child Mother Child 3 Spaceship Community Investment Community Community 15 Farm Machine Machine Store Store 16 Store Spaceship Bank Spaceship Park 17 Park Bank Spaceship Bank Bank