Culturally Embodied Cognition: Space–Valence Metaphor in the Context of History, Residence Altitude, and Revered Objects

The present study investigated whether a space-valence metaphor (i.e., an association between up/down spaces and positive/negative valences) would be universal or vary across cultures. We conducted two experiments for four ethnic minorities in China and examined how the space-valence metaphor would influence their behaviors. Experiment 1 explored the effects of history and ethnic residence altitude on the space-valence metaphor between the Dai and Hani people. In contrast, Experiment 2 investigated the effects of the location of revered objects on the space-valence metaphor between the Zhuang and Yao people. These results have shown that up-good and down-bad space-valence metaphors were present in all the minority groups except the Yao. Our findings suggest that space-valence metaphor varies across cultures and further research in non-WEIRD (Westernized, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) cultures is important for understanding this phenomenon.