Does Thinking in a Foreign Language Lead to Riskier Decisions? An Empirical Study of Decision-Making in Moral Dilemmas

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Psychology - Personality Psychology, grade: 1,3, LMU Munich, language: English, abstract: Millions of people around the world use foreign languages for communication on a daily basis. Not being on the same level of proficiency as the mother tongue, thinking in a foreign language can lead to changes in the decision-making process. We tested to see whether thinking in a foreign language influences risk and moral judgments. German and English natives completed an online study either in their native or in a foreign language. Results indicate that participants answering in a foreign language were more risk seeking. No language effect was found for people's moral judgments. These findings support the hypothesis that a foreign language puts more cognitive load on the brain and thus leaves less capacity available for rational decision-making.