Do We Make Different Decisions in Different Languages?
By: Chiara Sforza and Julieta Magud
Have you ever wondered if language can affect the choices that you make? As bilinguals, we wonder if the Foreign Language Effect can affect our own decision making. The Foreign Language Effect (FLE) is the idea that thinking in a non-native language can improve decision-making. Research suggests that people who speak another language are more rational in their non-native language. It is believed that when thinking in a native language, emotions have a stronger impact on one’s decision-making. Del Maschio and colleagues (2022) conducted what is called a “meta analysis” in which they reviewed the current literature on the Foreign Language Effect. In their meta-analysis, the researchers found a reliable Foreign Language Effect, which was not moderated by language experience or methodological choices. This means that the strength of the Foreign Language Effect was not affected by language experience, which is measured by second language age of acquisition and proficiency, or by methodological choices which are the types of decision problems used, the presentation modality of the tasks administered, and the perspective in which problems are framed.
Since decisions are frequently presented to people in a second language in modern globalized societies, there are far reaching implications of Foreign Language Effect for socio-economic and public health policies. Imagine, for example, that a doctor could react differently to a patient’s symptoms based on the language in which they describe them. We can try to see how these medical spaces are impacted by language by looking at the framing effect. The framing effect, which is the systematic tendency to make choices based on the way in which options are presented, has been shown to diminish when using a foreign language. One hypothesis is that the relative emotionality of a native versus a foreign language is changed by factors such as age of acquisition, language proficiency, language use and immersion, and the (emotional) context of learning. There are multiple hypotheses for the potential moderating factors of the Foreign Language Effect. The researchers, however, focused specifically on the theory of how the Foreign Language Effect is linked to more emotionality in a native language versus second language, and how this link may predict factors related to the differences in someone’s first versus second language. Therefore, in theory, the factors should impact the strength of the Foreign Language Effect.
In Del Maschio’s (2022) and colleagues’ meta analysis they assessed the magnitude of the Foreign Language Effect by combining behavioral evidence from both decision problems and moral dilemmas. Their goal was also to examine whether and to what extent factors related to participants’ bilingual background (such as the age of acquisition of their second language, proficiency in their second language, second language exposure) and methodological design features (i.e., Problem type, Task modality, Personal/Impersonal distinction) moderated meta-analytic results. The final sample included 15 articles, which were all multi-experimental studies. For each study, the researchers looked for sample size, problem type (decision problem or moral dilemmas), task modality, the number of participants performing the task for their native language and for their second language, the number of participants choosing emotional options for the languages, and the number of participants making an unbiased choice in decision problems and the utilitarian choice in moral dilemmas.
A total of 91 experiments were analyzed, most of which involved participants that spoke English as their second language, and the most used language was Dutch (26% of the experiments). The majority of the experiments used moral dilemmas and 21% of the studies used decision problems. The results indicated that for both decision problems and moral dilemmas in their second language, participants were more likely to opt for utilitarian and unbiased decisions versus the same problems in their native language. This would indicate, for example, that a doctor would treat a patient with less bias if they presented their symptoms in the doctor’s second language. This small but significant Foreign Language Effect, demonstrates that participants are less biased when facing dilemmas and problems in one’s second language versus native language, and indicates that native languages lead to greater reliance on heuristics and biases.
The researchers also looked into moderation, which examines a variable that may affect the strength or weakness of the relationship between two other variables. The researchers did not find age of acquisition to be a moderator in the meta-analysis, failing to support this aspect of their hypothesis. They explain that the ages of exposure to a foreign language could also be a factor rather than just the age in which the language was learned. They also did not find a moderation effect of second language proficiency on the Foreign Language Effect, also failing to support this aspect of the hypothesis. There was no moderating effect of problem type, task modality, and personal distinction, which they interpret as an indication that the Foreign Language Effect in moral decision making could be more situational or socially based rather than dependent on the task at hand or the individual’s feelings. In other words, it could highly depend on who the other person in the conversation is.
The study found support for the Foreign Language Effect and shows that more research is needed for this topic. There are so many different possible moderators of the Foreign Language Effect, and without further investigation, many questions remain unanswered. As bilinguals, these results make us question our own moral dilemmas and decision making problems and how we may respond differently to stimuli based on the language that we are being spoken in or speaking in. Additionally, how could this be applied to bilinguals in terms of their philosophical beliefs? Do we change how we think based on the language, or is it merely an issue of societal values? In our previous example about doctors, what should be done in these medical spaces? Are there trainings in place for cultural awareness in the workplace?
Source:
Del Maschio, N., Crespi, F., Peressotti, F., Abutalebi, J., & Sulpizio, S. (2022). Decision-making depends on language: A meta-analysis of the Foreign Language Effect. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 25(4), 617–630. doi:10.1017/S1366728921001012
