Eberhard Karls University Tübingen
English Department
Summer Semester 2023
HS/MS: Foreign Accents
=
ö ô
Prof. Dr. Andrea Weber
Literature Review:
The Foreign-Language Effect
Student: T
Serena Hedrich
ID number: ⑳
5746482
Subject: English Bachelor of Education (H-2015-1)
Module: Focus Module Linguistics (ENG_BE_5)
Semester: 6
Email: ~
Date: 28th July 2023
, 1. Introduction
In this review I will discuss the topic of the Foreign-Language-Effect. When confronted
with challenges that expect decision-making, people use a variety of heuristics that might not
always stick to rational norms. These biases are intended to represent the functioning of
implicit intuitive decision processes, which allow individuals to make quick conclusions without
resorting to more expensive and time-consuming formal/logical thinking. A number of studies
have been conducted to determine whether the impact of intuitive biases on decision making
decreases when a particular situation is presented in a person's foreign language rather than
her native language. This is a very wide but interesting topic because it has a great impact on
our everyday life and probably not just in our private one. It must also be taken into account,
or one must be aware of it in the professional environment, especially when working in a field
where many decisions must be taken.
But also in our private life we make so many decisions every day, not just in our first language.
Many people today use more than just their mother tongue regularly. Especially when thinking
about people being bilingual or refugees and immigrants as well. On a daily basis, they face
personal issues of morality in a foreign language, also because they have a different
background or culture.
There are researches about the differences about making decisions in the first language or the
foreign one and which factors, like emotions or moral judgements, have an influence on it and
how big this influence really is. Also if we are more likely to take a risky or more safe option in
one or the other language and what decision processes lead to which judgements.
In the following articles these factors are described and discussed.
2. Description and Discussion of the articles
[1]
The first article is called “The Foreign-Language Effect: Thinking in a Foreign Tongue
Reduces Decision Biases” and was published by Boaz Keysar, Sayuri L.Hayakawa, and Sun
Gyu An, from the University of Chicago. The article is based on experiments that looked at how
decision making is affected by speaking a foreign language. Two tests were conducted to
assess its effects on the framing effect on risk attitudes. As the choices in the modified gain-
frame condition demonstrate, choosing a foreign language reduces the framing effect even
when respondents read and understand the content. These trials also reveal that the foreign
language effect is independent of native language or foreign tongue.
Two more studies looked at the effect of a foreign language on myopic loss aversion. The
results of the loss aversion experiment reveal that loss aversion is lessened in a foreign
language because people are more inclined to take a wager with a positive anticipated value
that maximizes their advantage in the long term. According to the findings of the myopic loss
aversion study, people are not as loss averse in a foreign language as they are in their native
2
English Department
Summer Semester 2023
HS/MS: Foreign Accents
=
ö ô
Prof. Dr. Andrea Weber
Literature Review:
The Foreign-Language Effect
Student: T
Serena Hedrich
ID number: ⑳
5746482
Subject: English Bachelor of Education (H-2015-1)
Module: Focus Module Linguistics (ENG_BE_5)
Semester: 6
Email: ~
Date: 28th July 2023
, 1. Introduction
In this review I will discuss the topic of the Foreign-Language-Effect. When confronted
with challenges that expect decision-making, people use a variety of heuristics that might not
always stick to rational norms. These biases are intended to represent the functioning of
implicit intuitive decision processes, which allow individuals to make quick conclusions without
resorting to more expensive and time-consuming formal/logical thinking. A number of studies
have been conducted to determine whether the impact of intuitive biases on decision making
decreases when a particular situation is presented in a person's foreign language rather than
her native language. This is a very wide but interesting topic because it has a great impact on
our everyday life and probably not just in our private one. It must also be taken into account,
or one must be aware of it in the professional environment, especially when working in a field
where many decisions must be taken.
But also in our private life we make so many decisions every day, not just in our first language.
Many people today use more than just their mother tongue regularly. Especially when thinking
about people being bilingual or refugees and immigrants as well. On a daily basis, they face
personal issues of morality in a foreign language, also because they have a different
background or culture.
There are researches about the differences about making decisions in the first language or the
foreign one and which factors, like emotions or moral judgements, have an influence on it and
how big this influence really is. Also if we are more likely to take a risky or more safe option in
one or the other language and what decision processes lead to which judgements.
In the following articles these factors are described and discussed.
2. Description and Discussion of the articles
[1]
The first article is called “The Foreign-Language Effect: Thinking in a Foreign Tongue
Reduces Decision Biases” and was published by Boaz Keysar, Sayuri L.Hayakawa, and Sun
Gyu An, from the University of Chicago. The article is based on experiments that looked at how
decision making is affected by speaking a foreign language. Two tests were conducted to
assess its effects on the framing effect on risk attitudes. As the choices in the modified gain-
frame condition demonstrate, choosing a foreign language reduces the framing effect even
when respondents read and understand the content. These trials also reveal that the foreign
language effect is independent of native language or foreign tongue.
Two more studies looked at the effect of a foreign language on myopic loss aversion. The
results of the loss aversion experiment reveal that loss aversion is lessened in a foreign
language because people are more inclined to take a wager with a positive anticipated value
that maximizes their advantage in the long term. According to the findings of the myopic loss
aversion study, people are not as loss averse in a foreign language as they are in their native
2
