Previous research has provided ample evidence for an impact of language on moral dilemma judgments, suggesting higher willingness to sacrifice one person to save several others when the dilemma is presented in a foreign as opposed to the judge’s native language. In accordance with the dual-process model of moral judgment, the foreign language effect is frequently taken to indicate either decreased “deontological” norm-adherence or increased sensitivity to aggregate consequences of a decision. However, previous research has rarely investigated these supposed mechanisms directly. We applied a multinomial modeling approach to investigate the effect of language on endorsement of aggregate consequences, norm-endorsement, and inertia, while differentiating between low- and high-involvement scenarios. The results of two experiments indicate that foreign language reduces norm-endorsement. Moreover, results of an interaction analysis suggest that among high-involvement scenarios foreign language may also decrease inertia, relative to native language. Endorsement of aggregate consequences was unaffected by language. Our multinomial modeling approach thus indicates that theorizing on the foreign language effect should consider both norm-endorsement and inertia.

先前的研究为语言对道德困境判断的影响提供了充足的证据，表明当这种困境出现在外来而不是法官的母语中时，更愿意牺牲一个人来挽救其他人。根据道德判断的双重过程模型，经常采用外语效应来表示“道义上的”规范遵循的减少或对决策总结果的敏感性提高。但是，以前的研究很少直接研究这些假定的机制。我们采用了多项建模方法，以研究语言对总体后果，规范认可和惯性认可的影响，同时区分低介入情景和高介入情景。两项实验的结果表明，外语会减少规范认可。此外，交互分析的结果表明，在高度参与的场景中，相对于本地语言，外语也可能减少惯性。认可总体后果不受语言影响。因此，我们的多项式建模方法表明，关于外语效果的理论应该同时考虑规范认可和惯性。