The interplay between language, psychological distance, and modality on moral decision-making in Dutch-English bilinguals

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated the Foreign Language Effect, indicating that the moral decisions people make differ depending on the language in which they have to decide (e.g. Costa et al., 2014), yet studies looking at the relation between language, psychological distance, and modality are lacking. Therefore, in this study participants are presented with various sacrificial moral dilemmas either in Dutch or English. Psychological distance is modulated by being presented with a face and biography of the person who describes the moral dilemma or not. The dilemmas were presented either in written form or auditorily and participants had to choose whether to carry out a proposed action or not. The results showed no effect of language, no interaction effect between language and psychological distance, and no influence of modality on the interaction between language and psychological distance. However, exploratory data showed a significant influence of English proficiency scores on the interaction between language and psychological distance. Future research could focus on the use of impersonal moral dilemmas, investigate different language pairs, and could manipulate the strength of psychological distance.