The Embodiment of Power as Forward/Backward Movement in Chinese and English Speakers

ABSTRACT In two experiments, we examined whether POWER is embodied in terms of horizontal forward and backward movement using an action compatibility task. Participants were asked to categorize power-related words (e.g., “boss”, “intern”) aseither “powerful” or “powerless” as quickly and accurately as possible. In the compatible condition, the response to indicate that the word was “powerful” involved a forward movement and the response to indicate “powerless” involved a backward movement. Under incompatible conditions, these responses were reversed (“powerful”-backward/“powerless”-forward). In both experiments, participants were faster to categorize the words when the response actions were compatible than incompatible. Furthermore, this compatibility effect was observed for both Chinese (Mandarin) speakers categorizing Chinese words and English speakers categorizing English words. These data suggest that the psychological reality of a “POWER IS MOVING FORWARD” conceptual metaphor in both language groups, which we argue is based on an extension of the “SOURCE-PATH-GOAL” schema.