ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology of Language
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1539784
The Interplay between Cultural Models and Metaphor Understanding: A Cross-Cultural Cognitive Perspective
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, China
- 2The University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
- 3University of Reading, Reading, England, United Kingdom
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In cross-cultural communication, accurate metaphor comprehension enhances mutual understanding and facilitates effective cooperation among individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. This paper adopts a cross-cultural cognitive perspective and employs grounded theory as the methodological framework to analyze how cultural models influence metaphor understanding. Through a coding analysis of 148 domestic and international texts, the study constructs a four-element model comprising thinking patterns, cognitive frameworks, language communication, and social consensus. Thinking patterns shape cognitive frameworks, which are articulated and transmitted through language communication, ultimately contributing to the formation of social consensus within cultural groups. These four interrelated elements work together to support deeper and more accurate metaphor comprehension in intercultural contexts. By integrating theory with empirical analysis, this study offers a novel conceptual framework for future research on metaphor in cross-cultural communication.
Keywords: metaphor, cultural model, Cross-cultural, Key elements, grounded theory
Received: 20 Jan 2025; Accepted: 02 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zou, Fuller and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jun Zou, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, China
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