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. Previous research has mainly focused on WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) populations, and evidence from non-WEIRD groups remains limited. To address this gap, two experiments were conducted among four ethnic minorities in China. 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. The up–good and down–bad pattern was observed in all groups except the Yao, possibly because of their distinctive bodily activities and environmental interactions, such as frequent uphill and downhill movements while carrying heavy loads, although the present data do not permit causal inference. These findings suggest that the space–valence metaphor is not culturally invariant and extend embodied cognition theory by showing how culture-specific bodily experience shapes metaphorical cognition in non-WEIRD populations.