The Moral Foreign Language Effect: Situations without

OutcomesLaura Soter

The Foreign Language EffectIn a second language, people less likely to show framing effects, loss aversion, & other

cognitive biases (Keysar et al., 2012; Costa et al., 2014)

Ex. Equal-odds bets framed as gains vs. losses

Study of Moral Reasoning: Trolley Problems

(Costa et al., 2014)

Study of Moral Reasoning: Trolley Problems

(Costa et al., 2014)

Some Moral TerminologyDeontology -- certain universal moral laws/duties that cannot be violated; focus on

means

Ex. “Never kill!”

Consequentialism/Utilitarianism -- the goal is to maximize the overall good; focus on

ends

Ex. Permissible to lie if it will save someone’s life

Some Moral TerminologyDeontology -- certain universal moral laws/duties that cannot be violated; focus on

means

Ex. “Never kill!”

Consequentialism/Utilitarianism -- the goal is to maximize the overall good; focus on

ends

Ex. Permissible to lie if it will

save someone’s life

DON’T KILL THE ONE PERSON!

SAVE THE FIVE PEOPLE!

Study of Moral Reasoning: Trolley Problems

(Costa et al., 2014)

The Moral Foreign Language Effect (MFLE)

% P’s who chose Util. Option

The Moral Foreign Language EffectIn their second language, people are more willing to make

consequentialist moral judgments that they are reluctant to make in

their first language

● Trolley Problems (Costa et al., 2014; Geipel et al., 2015b)

● Morally Repugnant but Harmless Acts (Geipel et al., 2015a)

● Good Intentions, Bad Outcome; Bad Intention, Good Outcome (Geipel et al,

2016)

Emotional Attenuation HypothesisTheory: Less emotional valence in L2, leads to “colder” consequentialist

judgments

● Less reactivity in L2 for taboo words, childhood reprimands (Harris et al., 2003)

● Damage to VMPC leads to similar trolley problem responses (Young & Koenigs,

2007; Koenigs et al., 2007)

My Study: The Question

In everyday moral dilemmas where people are not given

information about the situation’s outcomes, do we still see an

MFLE?

My Study: Method & Procedure● 68 Carleton students

● Native English speakers; Spanish 204 or above

● 15 scenarios: 5 good, 5 bad, 5 neutral

● Survey in English or Spanish

● Rate on a 1-7 Likert scale: Very Morally Bad to Very Morally Good

My Study: Method & Procedure● 68 Carleton students

● Native English speakers; Spanish 204 or above

● 15 scenarios: 5 good, 5 bad, 5 neutral

● Survey in English or Spanish

● Rate on a 1-7 Likert scale: Very Morally Bad to Very Morally Good

Ex: “Angela is running low on cash, and she doesn’t have quite enough money to pay

her bills this month. Employees at the store where she works are responsible for

logging their own hours. Please rate the morality of Angela’s actions if she writes down

a few extra hours on her time sheet.”

Results - Bad DilemmasMain effect of language & dilemma; no interaction

(Error bars represent standard error of the mean)

InterpretationEvidence of an MFLE even without outcome information

Suggests that emotional attenuation still occurs, but the jump to

second language consequentialism is too quick

→ we need to consider many different types of scenarios!

Normative SignificanceArguments from moral psychology in favor of consequentialism (Greene, 2014)

Normative SignificanceArguments from moral psychology in favor of consequentialism (Greene, 2014)

My challenge: The present study shows that weakened moral condemnation can occur

even in the absence of a consequentialist justification

→ challenges arguments that consequentialism is more “reasoned”/ “logical”

→ Suggests that emotion is really important in moral reasoning!!

ReferencesCosta, A., Foucart, A., Arnon, I., Aparici, M., & Apesteguia, J. (2014). “Piensa” twice: On the foreign language effect in decision making. Cognition,

130, 236-254. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2013.11.010Costa, A., Foucart, A., Hayakawa, S., Aparici, M., Apesteguia, J., Heafner, J., & Keysar, B. (2014). Your morals depend on language. Plos One, 9,

1-7. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0094842 Geipel, J., Hadjichristidis, C., & Surian, L. (2016). Foreign language affects the contribution of intentions and outcomes to moral judgment.

Cognition, 154, 34-39. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2016.05.010 Geipel, J., Hadjichristidis, C., & Surian, L. (2015a). How foreign language shapes moral judgment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 59,

8-17. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2015.02.001 Geipel, J., Hadjichristidis, C., & Surian, L. (2015b). The foreign language effect on moral judgment: The role of emotions and norms. Plos One, 10,

1-1 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131529 Greene, J. (2014). Beyond point-and-shoot morality: Why cognitive (neuro)science matters for ethics. Ethics, 124(4), 695-726. Harris, C. L., Aycicegi, A., & Gleason, J. B. (2003). Taboo words and reprimands elicit greater autonomic reactivity in a first language than in a

second language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 561-579. doi:10.1017.S0142716403000286 Keysar, B., Hayakawa, S. L, & GyuAn, S. (2012). The foreign-language effect: Thinking in a foreign tongue reduces decision biases. Psychological

Science, 23, 661-668. doi:10.1177/0956797611432178 Koenigs, M., Young, L., Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., Cushman, F., Hauser, M., & Damasio, A. (2007). Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases

utilitarian judgments. Nature, 446, 908-911. doi:10.1038/nature05631 Young, L. & Koenigs, M. (2007). Investigating emotion in moral cognition: a review of evidence from functional neuroimaging and neuropsychology.

British Medical Bulletin, 84, 69-79. doi:10.1093/bmb/ldm031

Thank You!!Kathie Galotti & Jason Decker

Carleton Cognitive Science Department

Fellow Majors

Friends

Questions?