Foreign Language Effect on Dishonesty

Frontiers in Psychology

Xiaolan Yang¹  Li Li²  Rui Li³ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China;School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China;School of Economics and Finance, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China;

关键词: foreign language;    dishonesty;    cognitive load;    die-rolling task;    sender-receiver game;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.633016

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the use of foreign languages affects individuals’ dishonesty. We recruited native Chinese speakers who can speak English as a foreign language at universities in China, and they were randomly assigned to a native language (NL) or foreign language (FL) condition. Participants in each condition were required to finish the same tasks, in which they would benefit more from lying; the tasks were administered in either Chinese or English. We conducted one die-roll game in Study 1 and one cheap-talk sender-receiver game in Study 2. In both Study 1 and Study 2, we found that the proportion of lying was significantly lower in the FL condition than in the NL condition. Our results imply that the FL effect on dishonesty may be due to the cognitive load of communicating in a FL.

【 授权许可】

Unknown