Handout
Handout
Presentation title: A Different Me in Every Tongue: How Language Shapes Our Feelings and Morality
Main Question
Do multilinguals think and feel differently depending on the language they use?
Aim: Explore how multilinguals perceive emotional and personality changes across languages.
Method: Online questionnaire with 106 multilingual adults; Likert scales and open-ended
questions.
Key Findings:
- Participants felt more emotional and authentic in their first language (L1).
- Later-acquired languages (L2, L3, L4) were described as more 'fake' or less emotional.
Aim: To determine if using a foreign language changes moral decision-making, and why.
Method: 6 experiments with ~200 bilingual participants each; moral dilemmas presented in L1
vs. L2.
Key Findings:
Conclusion
Both studies support the idea that language affects how multilinguals think and feel.
References: D
Dewaele, J.-M., & Nakano, S. (2013). Multilinguals’ perceptions of feeling different when switching languages. Journal of Multilingual
and Multicultural Development, 34(2), 107–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2012.712133 Hayakawa, S.,
Tannenbaum, D., Costa, A., Corey, J. D., & Keysar, B. (2017). Thinking more or feeling less? Explaining the foreign-language effect on
moral judgment. Psychological Science, 28(10), 1387–1397. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617720944
waele, J. M., & Nakano, S. (2012). Multilinguals’ perceptions
Read the statements below and mark them as True (T) or False (F).