The Role Of Language Experience In Risk Decision-Making Of Chinese-English Bilinguals And Its Causes

When bilinguals use the second language to make decisions,the phenomenon of lowering the decision bias is called the “foreign language effect”.Throughout the previous research,in the field of risky decision-making,the foreign language effect of proficient bilinguals has been proved to be stable,but it has not been discussed whether the non-proficient bilinguals have the foreign language effect of risky decision-making.In addition,different researchers support different perspectives on the causes of foreign language effects.It is also necessary to study whether the causes of language effects in proficient and non-proficient bilingual decision-making are the same.In this study,both proficient and non-proficient bilingual Chinese-English students were used as subjects.In experiment 1,245 subjects were tested by frame effect paradigm to test the foreign language effect in the risk decision of the proficient Chinese-English bilinguals,and to explore whether the non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals had foreign language effects.In experiment 2,120 subjects were investigated,and the ratio bias effect paradigm adapted from the processing separation program was used to explore the causes of foreign language effects of risky decision-making and whether there was a difference between proficient and non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals.The result shows that:(1)Subjects who use Chinese to make decisions have significant differences in choosing safe options under positive and negative frameworks;proficient and non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals have no significant difference in choosing safe options under positive and negative frameworks.(2)Among the exclusion criteria,proficient and non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals chose significantly smaller proportions than those who used Chinese to make decisions.(3)Subjects using Chinese to make decisions have significantly lower analytical processing contributions than proficient and non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals who use English to make decisions.The value of the participants’ heuristic processing contribution using Chinese for decision-making was significantly higher than that of the proficient Chinese-English bilinguals who used English to make decisions,and the difference was not significant compared with the non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals who used English to make decisions.(4)There is a significant positive correlation between the difference between the analytical processing contribution value of the proficient and non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals and the amount of foreign language effect.There is a significant negative correlation between the amount of difference in heuristic processing contribution and the amount of foreign language effect.It is not significant to analyze the difference between the difference between the processing contribution value and the heuristic processing contribution value.Based on the experimental results,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)both proficient and non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals have foreign language effects in risky decision-making.(2)The foreign language effect of proficient Chinese-English bilinguals on risky decision-making is due to the weakening of the heuristic processing and the analytical processing enhancement.The experimental results provide evidence for the controlled-processing hypothesis.(3)The foreign language effect of risky decision-making in non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals is different from that of proficient Chinese-English bilinguals.Their heuristic processing is not weakened,and the analytical processing is strengthened.