Metaphor, Expertise, and a PEST: Comments on the Contributions to This Special issue

The articles in this special issue are reviewed. To do this, some basic functions of metaphor are described and the intentionally naive cognitive discovery hypothesis is proposed. This hypothesis holds that individuals will use novel metaphor when confronted with unfamiliar problems. Complications of the hypothesis lead to the PEST model, which stipulates four factors—problem, expertise, social situation, and task--that should be addressed in studies in the area. This model is used in reviewing the articles, but theoretical issues are raised as well, such as whether the term metaphor needs to be invoked, an issue that appears to hinge on the larger issue of the relationship between language and thought.