The role of foreign language in the experience and emotional expression of guilt: evidence from moral scenarios and autobiographical memories of bilinguals

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the influence of language – first language (L1) versus second language (L2) – on the experience and the expression of the emotion of guilt. Fifty-two Greek – Spanish bilinguals read two moral scenarios that induced guilt in their L2 (Spanish) and rated the intensity with which they felt a series of emotions (moral scenario task). Then they were asked to recall and write about a real-life event that made them feel guilty in their L2 (autobiographical memory task). A month later they performed the same tasks in their L1. Content analysis and emotional vocabulary analysis were conducted to examine cross-linguistic differences in the expression of guilt. Overall, these bilinguals experienced higher levels of guilt and regret when they read the moral scenarios in their L1 Greek. They also used a greater number of emotion words in their autobiographical memories in L1. However, they appeared to be more willing to talk about sensitive topics (e.g. infidelity, homosexuality, and death) in their L2. These findings have implications for both psychotherapy and L2 instruction.

KEYWORDS:

• Guilt
• regret
• social emotions
• emotional memories
• moral dilemmas
• emotional-detachment effect

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data are available from the first author of the study upon request.

Notes

1 An anonymous reviewer argued that our study is limited by the sample size and underpowered. However, for a repeated measures ANOVA, expected effect size f = 0.25 (medium effect size), α = .05, statistical power = .80, one group and two measurements, the required sample is 34 participants, whereas our sample size was larger. Likewise, the eta squared obtained by our ANOVA results (see Results section) indicated medium effect sizes. Using the eta squared values to compute the achieved power (post-hoc analysis) led to an achieved power of .942 for our study, which is more than satisfactory.

2 All translations are our own.

Additional information

Funding

This study is part of the project EMILIA (FFI2017-83166-C2-2-R) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ‘ERDF A way of making Europe' and was also supported by the Community of Madrid and the European Social Fund (IN.MIGRA3-CM, ref. H2019/HUM5772).

Notes on contributors

Andreas Kyriakou

Andreas Kyriakou holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Nebrija University (Spain). Currently, he is a member of the Teaching and Research Staff in the Department of Languages and Education at Nebrija University (Spain). His research interests include the moral foreign-language effect, emotional vocabulary, and emotional expression in multilingual contexts, among others. Email: [email protected]

Irini Mavrou

Irini Mavrou is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Nebrija University (Spain), researcher at the Nebrija Research Center in Cognition, and Senior Teaching Fellow at the Department of Culture, Communication and Media, UCL Institute of Education (UK). Her research interests include second language learning and literacy, individual differences with a particular focus on working memory, emotions and moral decision-making. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

Kiriakí Palapanidi

Kiriakí Palapanidi holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics in teaching Spanish as a foreign language from the Antonio de Nebrija University. Her research area is the acquisition of vocabulary in a foreign language. Currently, she is a member of the Teaching Laboratory Staff of Applied Linguistics in teaching Spanish as a foreign language in the Department of Spanish Language and Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Additionally, she is a member of the Associate Teaching Staff in the Hispanic Language and Civilization Program at the Hellenic Open University. Email: [email protected]