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posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 28 2017, @08:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the how-about-swearing? dept.

From mrpg comes an interesting story about how communicating in a foreign language can influence decision making.

If you could save the lives of five people by pushing another bystander in front of a train to his death, would you do it? And should it make any difference if that choice is presented in a language you speak, but isn't your native tongue?

Psychologists at the University of Chicago found in past research that people facing such a dilemma while communicating in a foreign language are far more willing to sacrifice the bystander than those using their native tongue. In a paper published Aug. 14 in Psychological Science, the UChicago researchers take a major step toward understanding why that happens.

"Until now, we and others have described how using a foreign language affects the way that we think," said Boaz Keysar, the UChicago psychology professor in whose lab the research was conducted. "We always had explanations, but they were not tested directly. This is really the first paper that explains why, with evidence."

[...] "We discovered that people using a foreign language were not any more concerned with maximizing the greater good," said lead author Sayuri Hayakawa, a UChicago doctoral student in psychology. "But rather, were less averse to violating the taboos that can interfere with making utility-maximizing choices."

Journal Reference: Sayuri Hayakawa, David Tannenbaum, Albert Costa, Joanna D. Corey, Boaz Keysar. Thinking More or Feeling Less? Explaining the Foreign-Language Effect on Moral Judgment. Psychological Science, 2017; 095679761772094 DOI: 10.1177/0956797617720944


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by RamiK on Monday August 28 2017, @09:47PM (2 children)

    by RamiK (1813) on Monday August 28 2017, @09:47PM (#560538)

    You got to remember Koine wasn't really used for academic purposes: The well educated in the east used Ionic while the later westerners used Latin. So, comparing political discourse from Cicero to their contemporary pop-fiction, poetry and historical accounts of locals doesn't really sit right with me.

    And it's reflected in the academic curriculum: 2 years of Latin are enough to start reading Caesar's journals. 2.5 in most Archeology departments is considered enough Koine for a working understanding of the language . However, Ionic... Well, shit that takes 3+ years just to start making some sense from the texts and a good 4 years before people start looking into reading the philosophy of the period. And then, paraphrasing my lecturer at the time, it can take years before you realize the Greeks are using metaphors left and right but most of the scholarly works and philosophical analysis on those predate modern literary analysis and was done by religious scholars and imperial British nobles resulting in some of the silliest readings you can imagine.

    Personally though I can't remember nothing much of any of it so take it all with a grain of salt :D

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  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 29 2017, @06:12AM (1 child)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday August 29 2017, @06:12AM (#560685) Journal

    The well educated in the east used Ionic while the later westerners used Latin.

    Ionic? Pentantic Hexameter, just like Homer? I think not! We used Attic, from Athens! Even myself, raised in the dialect of Samos, knew this at least! And when I went to Alexandria, we all used Attic Greek, the language of Plato and Aristotle, not some backwater Ionian dialect! Do try to keep up, RamiK!

    • (Score: 2) by RamiK on Tuesday August 29 2017, @11:42AM

      by RamiK (1813) on Tuesday August 29 2017, @11:42AM (#560763)

      I just shortened Ionic-Attic to Ionic. Practically speaking, most textbooks teach Attic since it's easier to teach as the rule rather than the exception while making footnotes regarding the Ionic when Attic has a greater variety of reading material and diverges into Koine. Also a lot of people like Attic's additions to the language since they read and sound more posh and once you go Koine most of the useless baggage is cast-off. However, it's called Ionic-Attic and shortened to Ionic since phonetically, Attic splits-off Ionic (which in-turn splits off old Ionic\Epic) and we use Ionic alphabet following the Eucleidian reforms.

      Though admittedly, I remember preferring Ionic over Attic at the time. I don't remember the details but I think I like it since it was more orderly and had fewer exceptions. Regardless, like most everyone else I was taught Attic with Ionic footnotes and later some Koine tweaks and done most of my reading in Attic so I can't really argue against your atticism...

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