Examining Chinese people’s protective health behavior in the context of COVID-19 metaphors

WAR, COMPETITION, and FAMILY metaphors are frequently observed in news reports on the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The study examines Chinese people’s protective health behavior during the pandemic in a metaphorical language setting. A sample of 484 Chinese people participated in a within-subject experimental design, indicating their risk perception of the pandemic and willingness to adopt protective health behavior after exposure to three metaphorical frames and a literal frame in news pictures. The study utilizes risk perception to predict protective health behavior in COVID-19 metaphorical language settings by constructing hierarchical multiple regression models. The results reveal that protective health behavior significantly correlates with metaphorical/literal frames in news pictures. Findings support the hypothesis that risk perception explains protective health behavior better while controlling for metaphorical/literal condition. The results further indicate that metaphorical frames in news pictures, especially the WAR frame, allow Chinese people to perceive higher severity and susceptibility of the pandemic, generate more negative emotions from people, and make them more willing to take protective behaviors and receive vaccines. Evidence shows that the comprehension of metaphors is context-based. This study suggests that readers should reconsider the appropriateness of metaphors in different cultural contexts and anticipates the media to choose metaphors that align with their cultural contexts.