{"id":2956,"date":"2014-05-12T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alessandravita.com\/?p=2956"},"modified":"2014-11-04T11:59:37","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T10:59:37","slug":"foreign-language-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alessandravita.com\/wp\/foreign-language-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"The Foreign Language Effect – Mandela was right!"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if I tell you that a person does not think in the same way in his\/her mother tongue and in a foreign language? Is it possibile to end up making a decision instead of another merely based on the language used in the conversation leading to such a choice? The answer is yes!<\/p>\n

Such a phenomenon is called the Foreign Language Effect and can be wonderfully summarised with Mandela’s words:<\/p>\n

\"Mandela\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, recent studies suggest that the language you speak may surprisingly influence your moral judgement<\/strong> and, in particular, emotions may prevail in the mother tongue<\/strong>, whereas a foreign language makes you think coldly and far more rationally<\/strong>. In other words, Mandela was right! The reasons behind such a phenomenon might by several, for example, this might be\u00a0a reflection of different cultural values or it may be due\u00a0to the increased emotional distance that one experience while speaking a foreign language.<\/p>\n

As widely known in psychology, the decision-making process is mostly monopolised by the amygdala, which controls our emotions. And the truth is that, despite the huge amount of rational data we are constantly bombarded with, it’s our emotions that lead us to make the decisions we finally make<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Pragmatically speaking, what does the Foreign Language Effect imply? Among others, that in a trade negotiation using the mother tongue of the person you want to make a deal with gives you leverage.\u00a0This was, in fact, Mandela’s strategy in his secret meetings with de Klerk. But what if you don’t speak that language? Then you have two options:<\/p>\n