Generating distant analogies increases metaphor production

Although a large body of work has explored the mechanisms underlying metaphor comprehension, less research has focused on spontaneous metaphor production. Previous research suggests that reasoning about analogies can induce a relational mindset, which causes a greater focus on underlying abstract similarities. We explored how inducing a relational mindset may increase the tendency to use metaphors to describe topics. Participants first solved a series of either cross-domain (i.e., far) analogies (kitten:cat::spark-?) to induce a high relational mindset or within-domain (i.e., near) analogies (kitten:cat::puppy-?) (control condition). Next, they received a series of topic descriptions containing either one feature (some jobs are confining) or three features (some jobs are confining, repetitive, and unpleasant), and were asked to provide a summary phrase of the topic. Use of metaphoric language increased when topics contained more features, and was particularly frequent in the high relational mindset condition. This finding suggests that the relational mindset induction may have shifted attention toward abstract comparisons, thereby facilitating the creative use of language involving metaphors.