Use stream of consciousness to answer the following. The idiom is a metaphor for the common behaviour of responding disproportionately to something-usually an adverse circumstance. One who "makes a mountain out of a molehill" is said to be greatly exaggerating the severity of the situation. In cognitive psychology, this form of distortion is called magnification or overreacting. The phrase itself is so common that a study by psychologists found that with respect to familiarity and image value, it ranks high among the 203 common sayings they tested.

Meaning of idiom make a mountain out of a molehill?
To answer this question, we should know that: The idiom is a metaphor for the common behaviour of responding disproportionately to something-usually an adverse circumstance. Final answer: a metaphor for the common behaviour of responding disproportionately to something - usually an adverse circumstance.