Double Question, Metaphorical Paraphrases

September 29th, 2009 — Uncategorized

The Metaphorical Paraphrase

Interviewers can use metaphor or analogy to capture the central message in a client’s communication. For instance, often clients come to a professional interviewer because Basic Attending, Listening, and Action Skills 65they are feeling stuck, not making progress in terms of personal growth or problem resolution. In such a case, an interviewer might re?ect, “So it seems like you’re spinning your wheels” or “Dealing with this has been a real uphill battle.” Although metaphorical paraphrases might be best suited to kinesthetically oriented clients, many clients respond well to them, perhaps because so much of an experience is captured in so few words. Additional examples follow: Client 1: “My sister is so picky. We share a room and she’s always bugging me about picking up my clothes, straightening up my dresser, and everything else, too. She scrutinizes every move I make and criticizes me every chance she gets.” Interviewer 1: “It’s like you’re in the army and she’s your drill sergeant.” Client 2: “I’m prepared for some breakdowns along the way.” Interviewer 2: “You don’t expect it will be smooth sailing.” Clari?cation Several forms of clari?cation have the same purpose: to make clear for yourself and the client the precise nature of what has been said. The ?rst form of clari?cation consists of a restatement of what the client said and a closed question, in either order. Rogers was a master at clari?cation: If I’m getting it right . . . what makes it hurt most of all is that when he tells you you’re no good, well shucks, that’s what you’ve always felt about yourself. Is that the meaning of what you’re saying? The second form of clari?cation consists of a restatement imbedded in a double question. A double question is an either/or question including two or more choices of response for the client. For example:

  • “Do you dislike being called on in class-or is it something else?”
  • “Did you get in the argument with your husband before or after you went to the
movie?” Using clari?cation along with a double question allows interviewers to take more control of what clients say during an interview. In a sense, interviewers try to guess a client’s potential response by providing possible choices, similar to the multiple choice test format.
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C Causation, Determinate Metaphorical ” Force

September 27th, 2009 — Uncategorized

When the “force” conceptualization of “cause” is joined to the idea of emergence, as in the metaphorical uses of “sprang from” and “erupted” there is the special element of emergence from a pressurized container. Unpredictable, potentially explosive situations are aptly understood using this language. The force here is chaotic, unlike the ordered and determinate metaphorical “force” of say, deductive logic. In contrast, the particular process of emergence which is fertilization, gestation and birth (progeneration) provides the logic for gentler causal processes, an important sub mapping of causation which is addressed below.”Situations” and “sources” are not entirely captured as any one of Aristotle’s Four Causes, and yet we see them logically as necessary and sometimes sufficient conditions of events. “I yelled at her out of frustration.” “Dissatisfaction emerged from the meeting.” “After the assassination chaos erupted.” “His strength sprang from madness.”
  • Causation Is Progeneration, Nurturance Or Cultivation (or their lack). We have
repeated experience with the reproduction and nurturance of living things including ourselves and our children, the children of others and generations of animals and plants. This omnipresent experience offers a vivid prototypical domain whose structures and inferences can be projected metaphorically onto other happenings and endeavors. Lakoff and Johnson offer this mapping:

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Metaphorical changes, Metaphorical “

September 27th, 2009 — Uncategorized

In the dual of the Location Event Structure, the implicit trajector (that which is changed) is turned into a container of attributes, which are now transferred in and out of it. This dual is an elaborate Object Event Structure Metaphor, which maps the inferential structure of a source domain, the possession of objects, onto a target domain, the experience of changing attributes. Events become metaphorical changes in the possession of attributes. This event metaphor is outlined by Lakoff and Johnson as follows:

The Object Event Structure Metaphor

Attributes Are Possessions.

Changes Are Movements of Possessions (acquisitions or losses).
Causation Is Transfer Of Possessions (giving or taking).
Purposes Are Desired Objects.
Other sub metaphors in this system are similar to those in the Location EventStructure Metaphor: Causes Are Forces.
Actions Are Self Initiated Taking and Giving.
Means Are Affordances (availabilities).
Difficulties Are Impediments To Transfer.
Freedom Of Action Is The Lack Of Impediments To Transfer.
Long Term Activities Are Long Term Acquisitions Or Distributions Of Objects.
Some examples of how these metaphorical mappings work are given below: Attributes Are Possessions (there is a gradation in this metaphorical system from a literal pole; “He got a tan,” through a middle range with mixed metaphorical and literal elements. “He has had a heart attack” [which is only partly contained in the body] to the completely metaphorical “They took command of the situation.” (Note here the Location dual, “They reached command of the situation.”) Changes AreMovements Of Possessions; “Our troubles came from managed care.” Causation Is Transfer Of Possessions; “Tranquilizers took my anxiety away.” “El Nino gave Oregon a mild winter.” “Alcohol withdrawal gives people the jitters.” Causes Are Forces; “The principles of confidentiality were driven into us.” The war stole our innocence.” “My self confidence was yanked out from under me.” (This involves two metaphors: Causes Are Forces and Security Is Being On Firm Ground.) Note also that the image schema of support is invoked.
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