Utilitarian Decisions in Monolingual and Bilingual Children

Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/97661141615?pwd=OFpiaTFhNTVXd3FjdUFtMC9aS0xjZz09

Danielle Gozzo
Danielle Gozzo

Danielle Gozzo ’21 is a Psychology and English double major.

Abstract: Do bilingual children make moral decisions differently than monolingual children? In a previous study, bilingual children were more likely to make utilitarian decisions in response to child-friendly adaptations of the trolley and footbridge dilemmas than monolingual children (Michelin et al., 2010). Our study aimed to replicate and extend Michelin et al.’s study by presenting 4-6 year old bilingual and monolingual children with the trolley and footbridge dilemmas as well as an everyday-life moral dilemma. In contrast to Michelin et al.’s findings, we found that monolingual children were more likely to make utilitarian decisions in the footbridge dilemma than bilingual children.

PosterDG