Efekt stranog jezika i odlučivanje o moralu

Abstract

Foreign language eff ect (FLE) refers to different outcomes of the decision–making process depending on whether it is carried out in a native or a foreign language. The aim of this study was to examine whether the FLE is present in the assessment of moral wrongness of behaviour in diff erent scenarios. Put differently, the aim was to examine whether the language in which the moral dilemma was presented influenced ratings of acceptability of violating moral norms. Dilemmas used in the research described a wide range of situations ranging from the ones that could be faced in everyday life to the situations in which decisions about people’s lives had to be made and diff ered in degree of violation of moral norms they described. The study participants, students of German Language and Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, were divided into two groups: one group completed the questionnaire in Croatian, while the other group completed it in German. Th e questionnaire consisted of three parts: a Questionnaire of Everyday Morality and Social Norms, three moral dilemmas describing moral misdeeds of varying degrees, and scenarios describing situations in which it was necessary to decide on the lives of people. Th e task of the participant was to rate the moral wrongness of the described behaviour. Th e results show that FLE was present in mild moral offences as well as when it was necessary to decide on the lives of people – participants who assessed violating moral norms in the Croatian language rated them as less acceptable than those who assessed the same violations in German. Th e eff ect was not present for great moral off ense nor in the Questionnaire of Everyday Morality and Social Norms.