Some people seem to turn ordinary experiences into images. They may say they are “drowning in work,” describe a difficult relationship as a “roller coaster,” or explain a stressful period by saying they are “carrying the weight of the world.”
Others prefer straightforward language. They say they are busy, uncertain, stressed or unhappy without comparing those feelings to anything else.
Why the difference?
Psychology suggests that frequent metaphor use can reflect the way a person organizes abstract experiences, connects ideas and communicates emotions. It can help turn something difficult to describe into something another person can picture immediately.
That does not mean someone who uses many metaphors is automatically more intelligent, creative or emotionally skilled. The reasons can be much more varied.
Metaphors
One influential explanation comes from Conceptual Metaphor Theory, associated with linguists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson.
The basic idea is that people often understand abstract concepts through more concrete experiences. Consider phrases such as “moving forward,” “falling behind,” “grasping an idea” or “carrying emotional baggage.”
There is no literal movement, falling, grasping or carrying involved. Instead, familiar physical experiences are being used to explain something abstract.
This can make complicated thoughts easier to process. Someone who says, “I feel trapped,” may be communicating an emotional experience more precisely than a simple statement such as “I feel stressed.”
Metaphors therefore do more than decorate language. They can provide a framework for thinking.
Connections
Frequent metaphor users may also be comfortable connecting ideas that appear unrelated on the surface.
Research on metaphor comprehension has considered several explanations, including analogy, categorization and conceptual mapping. In practical terms, understanding a metaphor requires the listener to identify a meaningful relationship between two different things.
Imagine someone describing career uncertainty as “standing at a crossroads.” There is no physical road involved. The speaker is mapping the experience of choosing between different career paths onto a familiar physical situation.
That comparison gives the listener several pieces of information at once. A crossroads suggests choice, uncertainty and the possibility of taking different directions.
For people who naturally make these connections, metaphors can become an efficient way of explaining complicated situations.
Emotions
Metaphorical language can be particularly useful when people are trying to describe emotions.
Feelings do not always come with precise labels. Someone might know they are overwhelmed without knowing exactly how to explain the experience. Another person might describe the same state as “having a storm in my head.”
Research by Adam Fetterman, Jessica Bair, Marc Werth, Florian Landkammer and Michael Robinson examined individual differences in metaphor use across five studies involving 532 participants.
The researchers found relatively consistent differences in people’s preference for literal versus metaphorical thought and language. Greater metaphor use was also associated with higher emotional understanding in two of the studies.
That finding needs to be interpreted carefully. It does not mean that metaphor users are necessarily more emotionally intelligent.
A more reasonable interpretation is that metaphor may give some people an additional tool for organising and communicating complicated emotional experiences.
Language
Sometimes literal language simply does not seem sufficient.
Consider the difference between saying, “My friendship became distant,” and saying, “A door slowly closed between us.”
Both communicate separation. The second creates an image and can convey something about how that separation felt.
This is one reason metaphors appear frequently in conversations about relationships, grief, stress and major life changes. A metaphor can compress several aspects of an experience into a short expression.
Research on metaphor and communication suggests that figurative language can help people understand complicated ideas. Its effect, however, depends heavily on the metaphor, the audience and the context.
A familiar metaphor can make an explanation immediately accessible. A confusing one can do the opposite.
Persuasion
Metaphors can also influence how people interpret an argument.
A meta-analysis by Pradeep Sopory and James Dillard examined research into metaphor and persuasion and found a small overall persuasive effect across the literature, with stronger effects under certain conditions.
Why might this happen?
A metaphor can give people a framework for understanding a problem. Saying that a temporary solution is “a Band-Aid on a broken system” does more than describe the solution. It suggests that the underlying problem remains unresolved.
The listener is given an image through which to evaluate the situation.
This does not mean metaphors automatically make an argument convincing. Their impact depends on whether the comparison makes sense and fits the subject being discussed.
Creativity
Metaphor is also closely connected with verbal creativity.
Creating a new metaphor requires someone to identify a relationship between concepts that are not usually placed together. A writer might describe silence as “a room with no doors” or uncertainty as “walking through fog.”
Novel comparisons can make familiar experiences feel different.
Research has examined relationships between novel metaphor production, verbal innovation and personality characteristics such as openness to experience. But again, it would be too broad to conclude that everyone who frequently uses metaphors is highly creative.
People develop their communication styles for many reasons. Reading habits, education, family culture, profession and personal preferences can all influence how someone speaks.
Personality
Frequent metaphor use should therefore not be treated as a personality test.
Two people might use metaphors constantly for completely different reasons. One may work as a writer and naturally think through images. Another may have grown up in a family where figurative language was common. Someone else may simply find metaphors easier when discussing feelings.
The same metaphor can also serve different purposes depending on the situation.
A person might use it to explain an emotion, make a difficult idea easier to understand, add humour or persuade someone during an argument.
Context matters as much as frequency.
Thinking
The psychology of metaphor is ultimately less about sounding poetic and more about how humans make sense of abstract experiences.
People regularly use familiar physical experiences to understand things they cannot directly see or touch. We talk about relationships as journeys, problems as obstacles, ideas as objects and emotions as forces.
Someone who frequently speaks in metaphors may therefore be showing a preference for a particular way of organising and communicating experience.
It is not evidence, by itself, of higher intelligence or a specific psychological trait. But it can reveal something interesting about how language helps that person connect abstract thoughts with familiar experiences.
So when someone says, “Life is a marathon, not a sprint,” they may not simply be trying to sound poetic. They may be using a familiar mental framework to make an abstract idea easier to understand – both for themselves and for the person listening.
FAQs
Why do people use metaphors?
Metaphors help people explain abstract ideas through familiar experiences.
Does metaphor use indicate intelligence?
No. Metaphor use alone does not reliably indicate intelligence.
Can metaphors help explain emotions?
Yes. They can make complicated emotional experiences easier to express.
Are metaphor users more creative?
Some may be, but frequent metaphor use does not prove creativity.
Can metaphors influence persuasion?
Yes. Some metaphors can shape how people understand an argument.
