Abstract: Metaphor is an important way by which people understand the world. In the present studies, we addressed the issue of whether tolerance can be represented by size metaphorically. We found that the concept of tolerance could be represented metaphorically through Stroop task (study 1) and this metaphorical representation was bi-directional in an IAT paradigm (study 2). We also found that such a metaphorical process could influence subjects perception of the tolerance of strangers in the pictures (study 3). The results indicate that tolerance can be represented by size, metaphorically, bi-directionally and socially. Future directions and limits are also discussed.

Key words: tolerance, size metaphor, conceptual metaphor theory

摘要： 通过3个实验探讨宽容概念与大小概念之间的隐喻关系。实验1采用Stroop范式验证了宽容概念的大小隐喻效应；实验2采用IAT范式，证实了被试对宽容概念的加工会影响他们的大小感知，从而表明了人们对抽象概念的加工会影响对具体概念的感知。实验3采用社会情境范式表明，此隐喻效应会影响被试对图片中陌生人物宽容性的感知，证实了该隐喻表征的社会性。结果表明，宽容概念存在大小隐喻表征且该隐喻表征具有双向性及社会性。

关键词: 宽容, 大小隐喻, 概念隐喻理论