Why should we study the Foreign Language Effect: debiasing through affecting metacognition?

Abstract

Debiasing is a method of improving people’s decisions by reducing their reliance on salient intuitions causing them to behave suboptimal (or, biased). In this work, I focus on the role of metacognition in debiasing decision-making and examine various methods of achieving it. I discuss the use of the foreign language effect as a potential method for debiasing and argue it is a promising area of study, showing signs of changing people’s decisions without providing them with additional information or instructions regarding the task. Additionally, I highlight that while some of the foreign language effect research has yielded promising results, the effects are not always reliable and replicable, and if found, they do not always benefit the decision-maker. Overall, I stress the importance of understanding the limitations of debiasing methods to ensure they lead to positive outcomes.