Doing experiments with metaphors
Today I had a meeting with my little sister's 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Woodward.
I had approached her via email about a week or two ago, with the request of using her class as guinea pigs for some mad scientist experiments.
Trust me, not as crazy as it sounds.
I wanted to gather some data to supplement my cognitive science research.
Alex's class is the perfect opportunity to do so; as 5th graders, they're mature enough to get work done without too much silliness, they have quite a developed vocabulary, yet they are still creative and still have a child's imagination.
Ms. Woodward and I discussed two studies/experiments that I wanted to do with her class; one involved metaphors and the other involved embodiment.
Experiment #1: Influence of Metaphors on Thought Processes
This experiment will be based off of an experiment done in Stanford (2011) by Paul H. Thibodeau and Lera Boroditsky (original study: Metaphors We Think With: The Role of Metaphor in Reasoning).
PROCEDURE:
- I'm going to be splitting the kids (there's 22 of them) into 3 trial groups (two groups of 7 and one group of 8. )
- Each group will receive a case study of crime rates in Philadelphia (the numbers will be manufactured, but will reflect the actual statistics found on the Philadelphia Police Department's Crime Mapper).
> The first group will receive a case study that describes crime as a beast preying on Philadelphia, the second group will receive a case study that describes crime as a virus infecting Philadelphia, and the third group (control group) will receive a case study that doesn't use any metaphors to describe crime.
> The case studies will be edited and simplified to be elementary school appropriate, and sent to Ms. Woodward for a check-over before the students read them.
> Each trial group will be separated from each other; one in the classroom, and the other two in the hallway. We'll give them about 10 minutes to read through the case study.
> Once they have finished reading, we're going to ask them, "If you were in charge of controlling crime in Philadelphia, what would you do to make sure the crime rate decreases?"
** Thibodeau and Boroditsky found some really interesting results; those who were in the 'crime as a beast' trial group quite consistently decided to increase enforcement (stricter laws, more jails, harsher punishments), while those who were in the 'crime as a virus' trial group consistently decided to enact social reforms (decrease poverty, help the homeless, improve education).
I want to see if we will receive those kinds of results when taking age/level of education into account. For example, will the 9-11 age group come up with the same solutions as those in the 15-17 age group and the 45-50 age group?
> The children will write their ideas down individually and then we'll discuss them as a group.
> After we have decided on each group's solutio to crime, we're going to ask the students which part of the case study made them decide what kind of action to take. The goal is to see if they recognize that it's the metaphor influencing their decisions.
*** I don't think the 5th graders will realize that the word choice was one of the deciding factors, but it'll
be interesting to see whether the other age groups realize and understand that.
