Iau-Chu Chiu
Soochow University
This article discuss as the functions of proverbs in everyday life and suggests that people’s ability to avoid the potentially antinomic proverbs reflects an important cognitive feature in human thinking; namely, contingent thinking. People use proverbs selectively to justify their needs in a situation. Therefore, despite prevalence of antinomic proverbs, people are not usually aware of their existence. From this point of view, proverbs are used not because they are carriers of truths, but because of their instrumental value in a situation. Ideally, proverbs convey the normative principles of a society to its members. In reality, they often become the tools with which people use to justify their behaviors.
Keywords: antinomic proverbs, contingent thinking, need, choice (decision) theory, context effect.