The development of metaphoric understanding: Implications for a theory of creativity

Journal/Book: Creativity Res J. 1997; 10: 10 Industrial Ave, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262. Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc. 347-353.

Abstract: The ability to comprehend and use metaphor has been argued to be the kernel of creative thought. The development of this ability was assessed in 40 children 4 years of age and 40 children 6 years of age who were individually presented with a match-to-sample metaphor comprehension task comprising six different types of metaphorical relations in both pictures and words (color, shape, physiognomic, cross-modal, psychological-physical, and taxonomic marches). Two hypotheses were tested: (a) that metaphoric comprehension develops from a reliance on biologically constrained categories to a dependence on more socially constructed ones and (b) that pictures would aid the comprehension of metaphor over words in the younger groups. Overall, younger children did significantly better in the pictorial medium, suggesting a picture superiority effect for more perceptible metaphorical relations (perceptual, physiognomic), whereas older children showed a word superiority effect for more conceptual metaphors (psychological-physical, taxonomic). The implications for a theory of creativity were discussed.

Note: Article Seitz JA, CUNY York Coll, Dept Polit Sci & Psychol, AC-4D06, Jamaica,NY 11451 USA

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