Cancer can feel overwhelming and random - no wonder so many people frame it as a battle. But with cancer patients living longer due to a stream of new therapies and breakthroughs in research, perhaps a new metaphor is in order.
Norbert Schwarz, a Provost Professor of psychology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, sees cancer - and cancer prevention - as more of a journey. Schwarz, a co-director of the USC Dornsife Mind & Society Center, and his former postdoc David Hauser (now associate professor of Psychology at Queen's University, Ontario, Canada) have studied how the warrior mindset may actually have a negative effect on patients: It can inadvertently discourage healthy behaviors.
Here, Schwarz discusses different ways to envision a cancer diagnosis.
You've written about the problem of framing cancer with battle metaphors. Can you explain?
Schwarz: In a series of studies, we found that battle metaphors and war metaphors reduce healthy people's willingness to engage in prevention behaviors that reduce the risk of cancer, such as healthy activities and lifestyle changes. Such "soft" behaviors don't feel right in the context of battle talk. People think, "That's not how you fight a war. To fight a war, you bring out the big weapons."
But doesn't framing it as a battle make people more vigilant?
Schwarz: We found no evidence for that among healthy people. Battle metaphors did not increase their screening intentions or the perceived urgency of potential warning signs. Instead, battle metaphors made healthy people a bit more fatalistic about cancer and less likely to engage in healthy prevention behaviors. However, many cancer research fundraising organizations use battle metaphors, and they seem to motivate people to donate funds.
What are some alternatives to the battle metaphor?
Schwarz: Prevention-oriented metaphors focusing on healthy lifestyles that keep cancer at bay would be preferable. Lifestyle changes in pursuit of better health can be portrayed as a "healthy journey." Journeys require active engagement, are usually enjoyable and lead toward a desirable destination. But they also include obstacles and detours along the way, which need to be managed. Such a framing encourages engagement and avoids fatalism while acknowledging potential difficulties. Fortunately, journey metaphors are becoming more popular in this area.
