Using a Foreign Language Changes Our Choices

Sayuri Hayakawa; Albert Costa; Alice Foucart; Boaz Keysar

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2016.08.004

Using a Foreign Language Changes Our Choices

Trends Cogn Sci. 2016 Nov;20(11):791-793. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2016.08.004. Epub 2016 Sep 3.

Authors

Sayuri Hayakawa¹, Albert Costa², Alice Foucart³, Boaz Keysar⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, 5848 South University Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: sayuri@uchicago.edu.
² Center of Brain and Cognition, CBC, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, Roc Boronat, 138, 08018, Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08010, Barcelona, Spain.
³ Center of Brain and Cognition, CBC, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, Roc Boronat, 138, 08018, Barcelona, Spain.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, 5848 South University Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

PMID: 27600315
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2016.08.004

Abstract

A growing literature demonstrates that using a foreign language affects choice. This is surprising because if people understand their options, choice should be language independent. Here, we review the impact of using a foreign language on risk, inference, and morality, and discuss potential explanations, including reduced emotion, psychological distance, and increased deliberation.

Keywords: decision-making; foreign language; morality; risk..

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Choice Behavior*
Decision Making / physiology*
Emotions*
Humans
Language*
Morals*