Possibilities as limitations: A study of the scientific uptake and moulding of G.A. Miller’s metaphor of chunk

Abstract

This article concerns the workings of metaphors in knowledge formation within psychology. Specifically, the review is focused on George Miller’s (1956) “chunk” metaphor. After considering the introduction and use of the metaphor in his text, the article examines papers in leading psychological research journals to analyse the reception and transformation of the metaphor. How do the researchers take up chunk as a question and organizing principle in their analyses? The results show (a) a tension in conceptualizing the metaphor between seeing chunk as a limitation (in the memory system) and as a means of expanding human abilities, and (b) a reification process of the metaphor, whereby dynamic and expansive actions are transformed into things or objects. It is argued that by emphasizing the static and limited conception of chunk, the premise for Miller’s text of the dynamics of how humans develop and learn is left undeveloped.