Would you kill one person to save five? People are more willing to accept such utilitarian action when using a foreign language than when using their native language. In six experiments, we investigated why foreign-language use affects moral choice in this way. On the one hand, the difficulty of using a foreign language might slow people down and increase deliberation, amplifying utilitarian considerations of maximizing welfare. On the other hand, use of a foreign language might stunt emotional processing, attenuating considerations of deontological rules, such as the prohibition against killing. Using a process-dissociation technique, we found that foreign-language use decreases deontological responding but does not increase utilitarian responding. This suggests that using a foreign language affects moral choice not through increased deliberation but by blunting emotional reactions associated with the violation of deontological rules.

This project was supported by grants from the John Templeton Foundation (37775), the National Science Foundation (1520074), the Spanish Government (PSI2011-23033, Consolider Ingenio 2010 CSD2007-00048), the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI2014-52181-P), the Catalan Government (SGR 2009-1521), and the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework (FP7/2007-2013 Cooperation Grant Agreement 613465-AThEME). J. D. Corey was supported by a grant from the Catalan Government (FI-DGR). S. Hayakawa was supported by a Harper Dissertation Fellowship from the University of Chicago.