When Using The Native Language Leads To More Ethical Choices: Integrating Ratings And Electrodermal Monitoring

Abstract

Turkish university students who had learned English via classroom instruction read six ethical dilemmas (three in English, three in Turkish) while skin conductance was recorded. Ratings of agreement with selfish actions were higher in the foreign language; agreement with ethical actions were higher in the native language. The skin conductance responses (SCRs) elicited by selfish statements were stronger than SCRs elicited by ethical statements, consistent with feeling anxious at violating ethical norms. The difference between SCR magnitudes for the selfish and ethical statements was smaller in the foreign language condition, consistent with somatic markers guiding action choices. In addition, SCRs were overall larger in the foreign language, suggesting an effort/stress response which swamped or obscured emotional signals elicited by the ethical vs. selfish content. Results indicate a role for dampening of the emotional contribution in foreign language decision making, due to the cognitive load and stress of reading/evaluating foreign language dilemmas.

Telif hakları gereğince yayın erişime kapalıdır. Yayın yayıncı tarafından erişime açık ise bağlantılar kısmından ulaşılabilmektedir.