Make Better Decisions
Submitted by kwa on Wed, 04/01/2015 - 18:17
Making Decisions in a Foreign Language Leads to Better Decisions
L earning a second language helps you thinking differently -- this we know. But researchers at University of Chicago, a prestigious economics institution, have found that thinking in a second language leads to better decisions
Why Did This Happen?
"A foreign language provides a distancing mechanism that moves people from the immediate intuitive system to a more deliberate mode of thinking."
UChicago psychologist Boaz Keysar found that people were less averse to risk when thinking in a second language. According to this UChicago article, people avoided making risk-averse decisions with lower payouts.
"Each participant received $15 in dollar bills, from which they took $1 for each bet. They could either keep the dollar or risk it for the possibility of getting an extra $1.50 if they won a coin toss. So in each round, they could net $2.50 if they won the toss, or get nothing if they lost. The bets were attractive because statistically, the students stood to come out ahead if they took all 15 bets."
More Risk?
If you're not familiar with economic decision-making studies, then you're not alone. Luckily, I have a background in this at UCLA, so let's look at what happened. From a betting perspective, the participant should make this bet. This is because a 50% chance of winning $2.50 would theoretically yield you $1.25. Not placing the bet, you would only get $1.00. The only reason you wouldn't want to make this bet is if you are risk-averse to the extra $.25.
So what this study found is simply, people are less risk averse when thinking in a foreign language.
According to this article, they were able to duplicate their results across other countries such as Korea and France. The study cited above was done in English and Spanish.
Association
Reading headlines can be really deceiving, as the word better can be somewhat arbitrary in this case. People made more optimal economic decisions by modifying their risk preferences, but there is a reason why people are risk-averse. We are genetically predisposed to avoiding risks because not too long ago, taking risks meant losing your life. This is different from taking risks to earn an extra $1.50.
What we do know is that learning and thinking in a foreign language changes the way you think. There are tons of neurological papers such as this that show that brains process information differently when accessing the primary versus secondary language. My favorite is this TED talk by Keith Chen that shows languages that don't differentiate between future and present tense save more money:
Start Making Better Decisions
In conclusion, thinking in a second language may not be better, but it will be different. Adding a second point of view helps broaden your decisions and boosts your creativity. If you can't solve the problem in English, then try Japanese! Language is a large root in our brains and you can really reinvent yourself by learning a new language.
So here's our plug, start learning Japanese today!.
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