The Influence of Chinese-English Bilingualism on Rationality in Decision Making Behaviors

Abstract

This research examined the effect of bilingualism on Chinese-English bilinguals through three decision-making scenarios, including risk framing, loss aversion, and myopic loss aversion. Twenty-four Chinese-English bilinguals who were raised acquiring both Chinese and English with an almost equal proficiency were recruited. The bilinguals demonstrated less asymmetry between gain and loss frames, behaved less loss-averse and myopic loss-averse in the English contexts than in Chinese contexts. The results indicated that Chinese-English bilinguals were more rational in their decisions using the English language than the Chinese language. Finally, the discrepancies in the decision making behaviors of bilinguals using Chinese and English in different linguistic contexts have been discussed from the psycholinguistic perspective.