A Study On The Official Phenomenon Based On The Perspective Of Psychological Metaphor

Officer standard(official standard; official rank standard; official-oriented) phenomenon is a widespread social phenomenon in China which produces a series of influences in Chinese society. It has profound ideological roots of traditional culture in the rear, and this phenomenon is also driven and impacted by present social reality factors. As a specific social phenomenon impacted by Chinese traditional culture, the researches on officer standard phenomenon are rarely seen in Western scholars, but domestic academic circles have more extensive researches on it.From the psychological view, the core of the officer standard is the officer worship thought of the public, this worship is not only the worship of power, but also the internal worship of identity for “officer”. Its basic content is regarding “officer” as an equivalent and measuring standard. With this are the thoughts that officers are upper and bigger and civilians(un-officers)are lower and smaller to some extent. In this cognition and conceptual understanding about officer, it implies that the metaphor relations between “officer” and space, that is, when people cognize and understand “officer”, they may borrow simple and visual spatial concept to process and express, so that the understanding of the “officer” can be more vivid and visual. And this understanding has consensus so people can universally recognize and accept.Metaphor was originally a linguistic concept, the language can be enriched by metaphorical expression and the abstract or complex concepts can be expressed vividly. Conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson further notes that metaphor is not only a rhetorical way,but also a cognitive and thinking mode, and there are complex psychological factors behind it.As one of the basic forms of metaphor, the spatial metaphor is closely related individual body experience.Currently, the empirical researches being from psychological subject on officer standard are still scarce. In view of the officer standard phenomenon is the widespread phenomenon and has important impacts in Chinese society, out of the attention of the Chinese cultural psychology,combined with subject development and practical significance, and based on the conceptual metaphor theory, this research studies the metaphor of official concept in officer standard phenomenon. The researcher hopes this research can push the research of officer standard phenomenon, and then give a little contribution to cultural psychological study.Basing on conceptual metaphor theory, this research adopts the way of combining questionnaire method and experimental method, and it is divided into three major parts. Research I studies people’s views and understanding for the officer, using definitive free association method, in order to explores whether there is potential expression that the officers are upper andbigger. Research II and III respectively use questionnaire method and experiment method,studying the existence of metaphor of official concept and then exploring the concrete manifestation of metaphor of official concept in people’s minds. According to the bidirectional opinions of metaphor, research IV explores people’s height and size judgment for different identity image(officers or un-officers).The research finds that people’s views and understanding on officers have both diversity and consistency, and their views are containing the expression that the officers are upper and bigger.In the metaphor study of officer standard, it is found the metaphor that the officers are upper and civilians(un-officers) are lower. But it is only found the metaphor that the officers are bigger, not saw the civilians(un-officers) are smaller. At last, the research also finds that there are some different in the judgment for the height and size of identity image, when the examinees imagine the image of an officer; they will give this image a higher height and a larger bodily form than a civilian(un-officer) image.