A single metaphor can shift public support between prevention and punishment policies

Evidence

People speak extensively in metaphors. When persons, ideas, and activities are likened to something else, even though they are not literally the same, people think and behave in terms of the resembled one. … Thibodeau and Boroditsky (2011) illustrate how even a single word can markedly affect the type of social policies people favor to ameliorate societal problems. When a soaring crime wave was metaphorically likened to a spreading “virus,” individuals favored social policies that address root causes and promote preventive measures. In contrast, when the same crime wave was metaphorically likened to a “beast” preying on the public, individuals favored tougher laws for catching and jailing offenders. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 385 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Thibodeau and Boroditsky (2011) illustrate how even a single word can markedly affect the type of social policies people favor to ameliorate societal problems. When a soaring crime wave was metaphorically likened to a spreading “virus,” individuals favored social policies that address root causes and promote preventive measures. In contrast, when the same crime wave was metaphorically likened to a “beast” preying on the public, individuals favored tougher laws for catching and jailing offenders. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 385 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Her central argument — that norms are behavioral rules people follow because they believe (a) most others in their network follow them and (b) most others think they should follow them — provides the diagnostic distinction between practices that can be changed by individual persuasion and those that require collective action to shift. The book’s framework explains the structural failure of individual-level anti-corporal-punishment education campaigns in contexts where corporal punishment functions as a genuine social norm. — , The Rod and the Child, 10747 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A single metaphorical frame can shift which policies people support — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 385; A single metaphor (“virus” vs “beast”) shifts which crime policies people favor — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 385; Reformers shifted punishment’s aim from expiation to prevention — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 204 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• A single metaphorical frame can shift which policies people support #corroborates (1.00) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 385
• A single metaphor (“virus” vs “beast”) shifts which crime policies people favor #exemplifies (0.97) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 385
• Individual persuasion cannot change norm-sustained practices like corporal punishment #complicates (0.75) — , The Rod and the Child, 10747