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Power in time: The influence of power posing on metaphoric perspectives on time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2016

SARAH E. DUFFY  and
MICHELE I. FEIST
SARAH E. DUFFY*
Affiliation:
Northumbria University, UK
MICHELE I. FEIST
Affiliation:
University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA
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Abstract

In English, the Moving Ego metaphor conceptualizes the ego as moving forward through time and the Moving Time metaphor construes time as moving forward toward the ego. Recent research has provided evidence that people’s metaphorical perspectives on deictic time may be influenced by experiences—both spatial and non-spatial—that are connected to approach motivations (Moving Ego) and avoidance motivations (Moving Time). We extend this research further, asking whether there are differences in preferred temporal perspective between those who exhibit higher and lower degrees of power, as high power has been connected to approach motivations and low power, to avoidance motivations. Across two temporal tasks, participants in our study who adopted high-power poses demonstrated a greater preference for the Moving Ego perspective, compared to those adopting low-power poses. These results suggest an embodied connection between approach and avoidance motivations and the Moving Ego and Moving Time metaphors, respectively.

Keywords

Moving TimeMoving EgoMetaphorEmbodimentPower posingApproach motivationsAvoidance motivations
Type
Research Article
Information
Language and Cognition , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 637 - 647
Copyright
Copyright © UK Cognitive Linguistics Association 2016 

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