About: Metaphorical framing

Metaphorical framing is a particular type of framing that attempts to influence people's decision-making by mapping characteristics of one concept in terms of another. What makes metaphorical framing unique from the various other methods of framing (analogic, gains vs loss, episodic vs thematic) is that the concepts being compared do not have to literally relate to each other. The purpose of metaphorical framing is to convey an abstract and/or complex idea in easier-to-comprehend terms. This is done so by mapping characteristics of an abstract/complex source onto characteristics of the simpler/concrete target. Metaphorical framing is based on Lakoff and Johnson's seminal work on conceptual metaphor theory which states that our cognition, our way of thinking, is metaphorically conceptualize