Investigating the foreign language effect as a mitigating influence on the ‘optimality bias’ in moral judgements

Bodig, Emma; Toivo, Wilhelmiina; Scheepers, Christoph

doi:10.1007/s41809-019-00050-4

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…These studies together [8,9,56,[59][60][61]66] form a strong empirical base. However, similar to the emotionality effect discussed in the previous section, the positive effect of L2 use on decision-making is not observed in all studies [67,68], suggesting that the effect might occur only in certain bilinguals in certain contexts (with the mediating variables yet to be determined). To close, there is another connection between the emotionality effect discussed in the previous section and the decisionmaking effect discussed in this section that is worth noting: the decision-making effect (i.e.…”

Section: Decision-making In An L2supporting

confidence: 65%

Bilingualism and COVID-19: using a second language during a health crisis

Schroeder

Chen²

2021

Journal of Communication in Healthcare

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Background: It is probable that billions of people have received information about COVID-19 in their second-acquired language (i.e. L2), given the global breadth of both bilingualism and the novel coronavirus. The use of an L2 could have relevance to a massive disease outbreak because L2 use influences the psychological processing of health information. Method: We conducted a search of the literature on the psychological effects of processing information in an L2. We included studies that examined how spoken and written processing of health-and disease-related information in an L2 influences (a) fear and anxiety, as indexed by physiological measures of emotional arousal, (b) decision-making, as measured by susceptibility to cognitive biases, and (c) language comprehension, as indexed by understanding complex information. In reviewing this literature, we engage in the thought experiment of contemplating what consequences these findings could have for a massive disease outbreak, such as COVID-19. Results: The research indicates that using an L2 decreases fear and anxiety (and thus could reduce the emotional response to a disease outbreak), increases rational decision-making (and thus could minimize disease-related cognitive biases), and decreases language comprehension (and thus could lower compliance to disease outbreak mitigation measures). Conclusions: When a bilingual listens to or reads information in their L2, it reliably affects their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in ways that are relevant to a health crisis. Health communication specialists therefore should take into account the mental effects of using a second language.

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Section: Decision-making In An L2supporting

confidence: 65%

Bilingualism and COVID-19: using a second language during a health crisis

Schroeder

Chen²

2021

Journal of Communication in Healthcare

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“…They conclude that while there may not be much difference between bilinguals and monolinguals in the alerting and orienting tasks, there is a difference in young adults on the executive control component of the task. Bodig et al (2020) investigated the foreign language effect and decision-making in bilinguals. They particularly focus on the optimality bias.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to the special issue on cognitive consequences of bilingualism

Mishra¹,

Abutalebi²

2020

J Cult Cogn Sci

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The impact of L2 English on choice perception, interpretation, and preference for L1 Arabic speakers

AboHamed,

Mashaqba,

Al-Khawaldeh

2023

Lang. cogn.

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This article compares risk tolerance of native Arabic speakers under two language contexts: their first language (L1 Arabic) and their foreign language (L2 English). We aim to evaluate whether thinking in a foreign language actually reduces the negative effects of cognitive biases, such as loss aversion and mental accounting, on financial decision-making. Toward this aim, we conducted two experiments in which the risk tolerance levels of 144 participants were evaluated across four different types of decision-making problems: the Asian disease problem, the financial crisis problem, the discount problem, and the ticket/money lost problem. In study 1, we adopted Keysar et al.’s (2012, Psychological Science, 23, 661–668) experiment to test the effect of L2 on framing effects associated with loss aversion, and in Study 2, we adopted Costa et al.’s (2014, Cognition, 130, 236–254) experiment to test the effect of L2 on framing effects associated with mental accounting biases. We found that individuals were risk-averse for gains and risk-seeking for losses when presented with choices in their L1, but were almost unaffected by framing manipulation under the L2 condition. When it came to mental accounting, however, framing effects were nearly absent in both L1 and L2 conditions. In our investigation, we examined various potential factors that could explain the foreign language effect on decision-making. The primary factor that appears to account for this linguistic phenomenon is the heightened cognitive and emotional distance experienced when using an L2.

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Investigating the foreign language effect as a mitigating influence on the ‘optimality bias’ in moral judgements

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

Bilingualism and COVID-19: using a second language during a health crisis

Bilingualism and COVID-19: using a second language during a health crisis

Introduction to the special issue on cognitive consequences of bilingualism

The impact of L2 English on choice perception, interpretation, and preference for L1 Arabic speakers

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