Thinking in a Foreign Language Overcomes the Developmental Reversal in Risky Decision-making:The Foreign Language Effect in Risky Decision-making

There is a developmental reversal in risky decision making:The more experience one has,the easier for him to be influenced by the frame,resulting in greater decision inconsistency (the framing effect)(Reyna et al.2014).Can one find ways to reduce such framing effects?The present study investigated three potential factors that may influence the framing effect:specialized knowledge of the participants,the language in which the problem is presented,and the types of problems.Analyses of the data revealed that for the life problem,under the mother tongue condition,both groups were affected by the frame;under the foreign language condition,this framing effect disappeared.For the financial problem,under the mother tongue condition,only the Financial Major was observed to be influenced by the frame,which was a developmental reversal;under the foreign language condition,this framing effect disappeared.The present study provides further empirical evidence for the foreign language effect.The implication for the reduction of decision biases in professionals was also briefly discussed.