Feeling close or distant: The role of the narrator in the Foreign-Language Effect on moral decision-making

Abstract This study investigated whether social distance conveyed through the communicative context modulated the Foreign-Language Effect in moral decision-making. Dutch–English bilinguals responded to personal moral dilemmas in Dutch or English, presented in written form (Experiment 1) or spoken form (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, personal and impersonal dilemmas were presented. Across experiments, a narrator, designed to appear socially close or distant, was introduced midway through the experiments. Contrary to the predictions, no reliable Foreign-Language Effect was observed in any experiment, nor did narrator-based social distance or dilemma type affect moral decisions. These null effects suggest that subtle manipulations of social distance, particularly when conveyed by artificial or unfamiliar narrators, are insufficient to alter moral decisions. These findings establish important boundary conditions for social distance accounts of the Foreign-Language Effect and indicate that stronger emotional engagement or clearer in-group cues may be necessary for language-related shifts in moral decision-making to emerge.