When your heart is in your mouth: the effect of second language use on negative emotions

Dylman, Alexandra S.; Bjärtå, Anna

doi:10.1080/02699931.2018.1540403

Cited by 28 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In summary, in this section we have reviewed evidence that in some cases using an L2 can dampen emotional arousal. In addition to the research cited above, many other studies have found decreased emotional resonance in an L2 [30,31,[40][41][42][43][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. This finding is thus observed quite frequently, implying some validity, but many other studies have not replicated this finding [30,34,[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52].…”

Section: Fear and Anxiety In An L2mentioning

confidence: 92%

Bilingualism and COVID-19: using a second language during a health crisis

Schroeder

Chen²

2021

Journal of Communication in Healthcare

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Background: It is probable that billions of people have received information about COVID-19 in their second-acquired language (i.e. L2), given the global breadth of both bilingualism and the novel coronavirus. The use of an L2 could have relevance to a massive disease outbreak because L2 use influences the psychological processing of health information. Method: We conducted a search of the literature on the psychological effects of processing information in an L2. We included studies that examined how spoken and written processing of health-and disease-related information in an L2 influences (a) fear and anxiety, as indexed by physiological measures of emotional arousal, (b) decision-making, as measured by susceptibility to cognitive biases, and (c) language comprehension, as indexed by understanding complex information. In reviewing this literature, we engage in the thought experiment of contemplating what consequences these findings could have for a massive disease outbreak, such as COVID-19. Results: The research indicates that using an L2 decreases fear and anxiety (and thus could reduce the emotional response to a disease outbreak), increases rational decision-making (and thus could minimize disease-related cognitive biases), and decreases language comprehension (and thus could lower compliance to disease outbreak mitigation measures). Conclusions: When a bilingual listens to or reads information in their L2, it reliably affects their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in ways that are relevant to a health crisis. Health communication specialists therefore should take into account the mental effects of using a second language.

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Section: Fear and Anxiety In An L2mentioning

confidence: 92%

Bilingualism and COVID-19: using a second language during a health crisis

Schroeder

Chen²

2021

Journal of Communication in Healthcare

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“…Further, the fact that the emotionality ratings decreased irrespective of reactivation language could be due to high L2 proficiency levels. The Swedish participants in the current study rated their English proficiency as high (as is typical in Swedish populations, see, for example, Bjärtå, 2019 andChampoux-Larsson, 2020), which may have attenuated the reducing effect of L2 on emotionality in the examined population. In bilinguals with lower L2 proficiency, a larger difference in reduction of emotionality between L1 and L2 reactivation may be expected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Reduced vividness of emotional memories following reactivation in a second language

Jansson

Dylman

2021

Cognition and Emotion

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We investigated the effect of second language use on the experienced vividness and emotionality of negative autobiographical memories. Fifty native Swedish speakers with English as their second language were asked to recall a negative episodic memory from their past in their native language. Half the participants were then asked to reactivate the same memory in their first language while the other half were asked to reactivate it in their second language, and then rate their experienced vividness and emotionality a second time. Following this reactivation, experienced emotionality was reduced for both groups of participants, with a similar magnitude of reduction for both groups. Experienced vividness, however, was only reduced for the group who reactivated the memory in their second language. No difference in intrusion frequency was found between the groups at a one-week follow-up. The results provide increased insight into how a second language can affect the experienced emotionality and vividness of a negative autobiographical memory.

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“…Additionally, there is a large body of research showing that emotions are perceived less intensely in a second language (e.g., Caldwell-Harris, 2014Dylman & Bjärtå, 2018;Harris et al, 2003;Pavlenko, 2005;Puntoni et al, 2009) and it has been suggested that lower emotionality in a second language may explain why we tend to make different decisions in a second language compared to a first language (a phenomenon tokened as the Foreign Language effect, e.g., Cipolletti et al, 2016;Corey et al, 2017;Costa et al, 2014;Dylman & Champoux-Larsson, 2020;Geipel et al, 2015;Hayakawa et al, 2016;Keysar et al, 2012). Here, participants were only tested in their first language.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical investigation of the relationship between bilingualism and social flexibility

2021

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Recently, a relationship between bilingualism and enhanced social flexibility has been suggested. However, research on the subject is scarce and what little exists is limited by several conceptual and methodological concerns. In the current study, we attempted to (a) replicate the findings from a study by Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza (Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 21:957–969, 2018) by using the scales that the authors developed, and (b) test the concept of social flexibility experimentally with a switch-task using socially relevant stimuli. In the first part, participants (n = 194) filled out the scales developed by Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza. We could not find that bilingualism leads to enhanced social flexibility. We did, however, find that higher level of education led to higher scores on the social flexibility scale. In the second part, a subsample (n = 74) from Part 1 completed a task where they were asked to identify the congruency between a face and a voice based on either gender or emotion, and to switch between these two tasks. The experimental task did not show an advantage for the bilingual participants. On the contrary, higher proficiency in a second language led to lower accuracy in the congruent emotion condition, while level of education led to higher accuracy in that same condition. We suggest that factors other than bilingualism, such as level of education and biculturalism, most likely drove the effect found both in the current study and originally by Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza.

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When your heart is in your mouth: the effect of second language use on negative emotions

Cited by 28 publications

References 30 publications

Bilingualism and COVID-19: using a second language during a health crisis

Bilingualism and COVID-19: using a second language during a health crisis

Reduced vividness of emotional memories following reactivation in a second language

Empirical investigation of the relationship between bilingualism and social flexibility

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