The interplay between emotion and modality in the Foreign-Language effect on moral decision making

Brouwer, Susanne

doi:10.1017/s136672892000022x

Cited by 31 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The occurrence and magnitude of the FLE may also depend on the modality in which problems and dilemmas are presented. As previously mentioned (see the Etiology of the FLE), the presentation modality of moral dilemmas has been shown to influence the occurrence of the FLE in proficient bilinguals (Brouwer, 2019(Brouwer, , 2020. Another factor that appears to be important for the presence of the FLE is the distinction between personal and impersonal dilemmas.…”

Section: Methodological Design Featuresmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…The relative emotionality of a native vs a foreign language has been argued to be modulated by factors such as age of acquisition (AoA), language proficiency, language use and immersion, and (emotional) context of learning (Caldwell-Harris, 2015; Degner, Doycheva & Wentura, 2012; Dewaele, 2010; Sheikh & Titone, 2016). Recent findings also suggest that the extent to which the FLE occurs in proficient bilinguals can be influenced by the modality in which moral dilemmas are presented (auditory vs written) (Brouwer, 2019, 2020). Brouwer (2020), for example, reported an effect of foreign language when a sample of Dutch–English bilinguals listened to moral dilemmas in Dutch or English, but failed to report an effect when a different sample of Dutch–English bilinguals read the same dilemmas.…”

Section: Etiology Of the Flementioning

confidence: 99%

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Decision-making depends on language: A meta-analysis of the Foreign Language Effect

et al. 2022

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In the present meta-analysis, we investigated the robustness and the magnitude of the Foreign Language Effect (FLE) – that is, the putative effect of language context (native versus foreign language) on decision-making. We also investigated whether the FLE is moderated by language experience – measured by second language age of acquisition and proficiency – or by methodological choices – the types of decision problems adopted, the presentation modality of the tasks administered, and the perspective in which problems are framed. Our results showed a reliable FLE, which was not moderated by language experience or methodological choices. We discuss our findings in relation to available theories of FLE, and indicate possible future directions to improve our understanding of the interplay between bilingualism and decision-making.

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Section: Methodological Design Featuresmentioning

confidence: 71%

Section: Etiology Of the Flementioning

confidence: 99%

Decision-making depends on language: A meta-analysis of the Foreign Language Effect

et al. 2022

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“…Finally, because we manipulated accents, the dilemmas were presented in auditory modality. Previous studies that have looked at the effect of modality (written vs. auditory) on the FLe [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Muda and collaborators have suggested that modality of observation does not seem to explain the variability observed in the FLe, however, in their study they used a text-to-speech system to generate the audio dilemmas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To test the possibility of a foreign accent effect, we presented participants with the well-attested trolley and footbridge dilemmas [ 6 , 7 ], as in Costa et al’s (2014) study, with two exceptions. We did not manipulate the language of presentation but the accent, native versus foreign, and we presented the dilemmas not in written but in auditory form [ 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is There a Foreign Accent Effect on Moral Judgment?

Foucart

Brouwer

2021

Brain Sciences

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Recent studies have shown that people make more utilitarian decisions when dealing with a moral dilemma in a foreign language than in their native language. Emotion, cognitive load, and psychological distance have been put forward as explanations for this foreign language effect. The question that arises is whether a similar effect would be observed when processing a dilemma in one’s own language but spoken by a foreign-accented speaker. Indeed, foreign-accented speech has been shown to modulate emotion processing, to disrupt processing fluency and to increase psychological distance due to social categorisation. We tested this hypothesis by presenting 435 participants with two moral dilemmas, the trolley dilemma and the footbridge dilemma online, either in a native accent or a foreign accent. In Experiment 1, 184 native Spanish speakers listened to the dilemmas in Spanish recorded by a native speaker, a British English or a Cameroonian native speaker. In Experiment 2, 251 Dutch native speakers listened to the dilemmas in Dutch in their native accent, in a British English, a Turkish, or in a French accent. Results showed an increase in utilitarian decisions for the Cameroonian- and French-accented speech compared to the Spanish or Dutch native accent, respectively. When collapsing all the speakers from the two experiments, a similar increase in the foreign accent condition compared with the native accent condition was observed. This study is the first demonstration of a foreign accent effect on moral judgements, and despite the variability in the effect across accents, the findings suggest that a foreign accent, like a foreign language, is a linguistic context that modulates (neuro)cognitive mechanisms, and consequently, impacts our behaviour. More research is needed to follow up on this exploratory study and to understand the influence of factors such as emotion reduction, cognitive load, psychological distance, and speaker’s idiosyncratic features on moral judgments.

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“…As such, even the issue of whether FLe exists at all remains unresolved: some studies using FL populations have shown that foreign language decreases cognitive biases and increases benefit-maximizing inclinations (Keysar et al 2012;Costa et al 2014a;Geipel et al 2016;Dylman and Champoux-Larsson 2020), while others show the opposite (Hayakawa et al 2017;Muda et al 2018;Mills and Nicoladis 2020); some studies using highly proficient, acculturated bilinguals have found FLe (Brouwer 2020;Miozzo et al 2020), while others have not (Čavar and Tytus 2018; Brouwer 2019; Dylman and Champoux-Larsson 2020).…”

Section: Hypothesis Predictions For Heritage Speakersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can You Make Better Decisions If You Are Bilingual?

Kirova

Camacho

2021

Languages

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Studies have shown that “framing bias,” a phenomenon in which two different presentations of the same decision-making problem provoke different answers, is reduced in a foreign language (the Foreign Language effect, FLe). Three explanations have emerged to account for the difference. First, the cognitive enhancement hypothesis states that lower proficiency in the FL leads to slower, more deliberate processing, reducing the framing bias. Second, contradicting the previous, the cognitive overload hypothesis, states that the cognitive load actually induces speakers to make less rational decisions in the FL. Finally, the reduced emotionality hypothesis suggests that speakers have less of an emotional connection to a foreign language (FL), causing an increase in rational language processing. Previous FLe research has involved both FL and non-FL speakers such as highly proficient acculturated bilinguals. Our study extends this research program to a population of heritage speakers of Spanish (HS speakers), whose second language (English) is dominant and who have comparable emotional resonances in both of their languages. We compare emotion-neutral and emotion-laden tasks: if reduced emotionality causes the FLe, it should only be present in emotion-laden tasks, but if it is caused by cognitive load, it should be present across tasks. Ninety-eight HS speakers, with varying degrees of proficiency in Spanish, exhibited cognitive biases across a battery of tasks: framing bias appeared in both cognitive-emotional and purely cognitive tasks, consistent with previous studies. Language of presentation (and proficiency) did not have a significant effect on responses in cognitive-emotional tasks, but did have an effect on the purely-cognitive Disjunction fallacy task: HS speakers did better in their second, more proficient language, a result inconsistent with the reduced emotionality hypothesis. Moreover, higher proficiency in Spanish significantly improved the rate of correct responses, indicating that our results are consistent with the cognitive overload hypothesis.

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The interplay between emotion and modality in the Foreign-Language effect on moral decision making

Cited by 31 publications

References 42 publications

Decision-making depends on language: A meta-analysis of the Foreign Language Effect

Decision-making depends on language: A meta-analysis of the Foreign Language Effect

Is There a Foreign Accent Effect on Moral Judgment?

Can You Make Better Decisions If You Are Bilingual?

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