Metaphors Really Are Powerful (But You Won’t Believe Us If You Happen To Be Smelling Something Fishy)

Research psychologists call them metaphorical effects: “instances in which a metaphor commonly used to describe a psychological state or social reality can, in turn, induce that state or reality. So, for example, holding a warm cup of coffee makes people feel warmly toward each other … and cleaning one’s hands makes a person feel morally clean.”