I think that this was a really interesting article. I guess if you think about it, it does seem likely that some psychological difference would be made when speaking in a foreign language. Also, I wonder, does it matter which language you are speaking in? Does that factor at all into the way that you respond to difficult situations? It makes me think; if people are in a foreign country, are they also inclined to make those kinds of decisions? I doubt it because people are naturally more suspicious in foreign countries. In addition, I wonder if the first scenario really happened, would those people still be able to actively kill someone. If they aren't able to kill the person, it could prove that people are inclined to say things that they don't mean. They used the example of a jury, and I would like to expound on that. So if someone is speaking a foreign language in front of a jury, instead of telling the truth, they could risk having someone being put in jail, even themselves for "the common cause." Overall, this was a really cool article, and it really is interesting how our minds work. I hope that we can use this in the future to discover the truth about any situation without warping the results unintentionally.
I think that this article was fascinating. I agree with angela that it does seem likely that some psychological difference would be made when speaking a foreign language. In Upper School, when we learn our chosen language we are learning more about the correct pronunciation and spelling, that the emotional purpose of the word is not received as easily as a native language learned as a child. For our teacher however, every sentence has deeper meaning, and it would probably be harder to sacrifice the single person for five others. When I am speaking in a language other than english, the emotional tags that come with the words I speak are lost and I would be more likely to make the utilitarian choice, as the article implied. Overall, I thought that this article was very informative, and made me think more about the choices I make on a daily basis, and how these choices may be different if I were speaking in a different language.
I think that this article was fascinating also. However, I was wondering, were the people asked using a foreign tongue in a foreign place or were they in their native country and asked the question in a foreign tongue? I think this is important because if people are in a strict foreign country, they might be scared to say what they would really do. I mean, they might be trained to go for the utilitarian approach, but in another country, they might have answered differently. Also, I think that the test itself could have been improved. The test was to imagine that you had to push the person off the bridge. However, I always find it easier to say something than to actually do it. These people might not actually do this in real life, but as I mentioned before, were trained to say they would take the utilitarian approach. Of course, we can't actually have them push the person toward the speeding train, but as technology improves, we could maybe create some kind of hollagram where the person can get pushed off the bridge, but the train isn't really coming. I also had another question. My first language was Korean, which I spoke for a few years, then promptly forgot. If Korean is considered my "native language". Would my response be different if I was asked the question in Korean vs. English, or would it be the same because I have used English for so long? I looked this up and found that babies are actually learning words before they're born, and can already differentiate between native and foreign languages. So, my guess is that my answer could be different in Korean then English. However, I think it would be very interesting to test this topic. I thought it was interesting that the guy said "People are less afraid of losses, more willing to take risks and much less emotionally-connected when thinking in a foreign language." I wonder if the language itself has to do with this, or the culture.
I thought that this article was great. The topic itself was very interesting. However, it left me with a lot of unanswered questions, which were unfortunately already asked by Angela. Does it matter what language you take? What about how fluent you are in the language? Also, does the environment play a role in what decision they make? Would it matter if they are standing on top of a footbridge, or sitting in a room? Lastly, but importantly, like Angela said, does it matter what country you are in? Next, I found it hard to believe that most people would choose to kill someone. It is killing in cold blood, and when confronted with the dilemma, most would not push him over. About the article itself, I would have appreciated it more if it was organized into some kind of table, it would have helped me take in all the data. Lastly, there were many other experiments conducted about these kinds of things. For example, antisocial personality traits predict utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas. As an additional note, this kind of relates to Machiavellianism, which is the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct. Conclusively, this trait seems to appear in many, whether they know it or not.
This article is very interesting. I agree with Angela and Shirell when I say that it seems obvious when you think about it. A language is from a culture, and depending on the culture, there are different beliefs such as honor, which makes for a different language with different beliefs.
5 comments:
I think that this was a really interesting article. I guess if you think about it, it does seem likely that some psychological difference would be made when speaking in a foreign language. Also, I wonder, does it matter which language you are speaking in? Does that factor at all into the way that you respond to difficult situations? It makes me think; if people are in a foreign country, are they also inclined to make those kinds of decisions? I doubt it because people are naturally more suspicious in foreign countries. In addition, I wonder if the first scenario really happened, would those people still be able to actively kill someone. If they aren't able to kill the person, it could prove that people are inclined to say things that they don't mean. They used the example of a jury, and I would like to expound on that. So if someone is speaking a foreign language in front of a jury, instead of telling the truth, they could risk having someone being put in jail, even themselves for "the common cause." Overall, this was a really cool article, and it really is interesting how our minds work. I hope that we can use this in the future to discover the truth about any situation without warping the results unintentionally.
I think that this article was fascinating. I agree with angela that it does seem likely that some psychological difference would be made when speaking a foreign language. In Upper School, when we learn our chosen language we are learning more about the correct pronunciation and spelling, that the emotional purpose of the word is not received as easily as a native language learned as a child. For our teacher however, every sentence has deeper meaning, and it would probably be harder to sacrifice the single person for five others. When I am speaking in a language other than english, the emotional tags that come with the words I speak are lost and I would be more likely to make the utilitarian choice, as the article implied. Overall, I thought that this article was very informative, and made me think more about the choices I make on a daily basis, and how these choices may be different if I were speaking in a different language.
I think that this article was fascinating also. However, I was wondering, were the people asked using a foreign tongue in a foreign place or were they in their native country and asked the question in a foreign tongue? I think this is important because if people are in a strict foreign country, they might be scared to say what they would really do. I mean, they might be trained to go for the utilitarian approach, but in another country, they might have answered differently. Also, I think that the test itself could have been improved. The test was to imagine that you had to push the person off the bridge. However, I always find it easier to say something than to actually do it. These people might not actually do this in real life, but as I mentioned before, were trained to say they would take the utilitarian approach. Of course, we can't actually have them push the person toward the speeding train, but as technology improves, we could maybe create some kind of hollagram where the person can get pushed off the bridge, but the train isn't really coming. I also had another question. My first language was Korean, which I spoke for a few years, then promptly forgot. If Korean is considered my "native language". Would my response be different if I was asked the question in Korean vs. English, or would it be the same because I have used English for so long? I looked this up and found that babies are actually learning words before they're born, and can already differentiate between native and foreign languages. So, my guess is that my answer could be different in Korean then English. However, I think it would be very interesting to test this topic. I thought it was interesting that the guy said "People are less afraid of losses, more willing to take risks and much less emotionally-connected when thinking in a foreign language." I wonder if the language itself has to do with this, or the culture.
I thought that this article was great. The topic itself was very interesting. However, it left me with a lot of unanswered questions, which were unfortunately already asked by Angela. Does it matter what language you take? What about how fluent you are in the language? Also, does the environment play a role in what decision they make? Would it matter if they are standing on top of a footbridge, or sitting in a room? Lastly, but importantly, like Angela said, does it matter what country you are in? Next, I found it hard to believe that most people would choose to kill someone. It is killing in cold blood, and when confronted with the dilemma, most would not push him over. About the article itself, I would have appreciated it more if it was organized into some kind of table, it would have helped me take in all the data. Lastly, there were many other experiments conducted about these kinds of things. For example, antisocial personality traits predict utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas. As an additional note, this kind of relates to Machiavellianism, which is the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct. Conclusively, this trait seems to appear in many, whether they know it or not.
This article is very interesting. I agree with Angela and Shirell when I say that it seems obvious when you think about it. A language is from a culture, and depending on the culture, there are different beliefs such as honor, which makes for a different language with different beliefs.
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