Foreign Language and Religiosity Effects on Moral Decisions Manipulating Norms and Consequences

The primary purpose of this study was to examine foreign language and religiosity effects on moral decision making in the context of a realistic set of scenarios about COVID 19 pandemic. In this study, we used CNI model in which four variants of a single dilemma are used in order manipulate norms and consequences, the defining characteristics of deontology and utilitarianism. A secondary purpose of the study was to investigate the role group membership in shaping moral judgement. 461 participants responded to COVID 19 scenarios either in their native language (Persian) or foreign language (English). Contrary to findings of prior research on moral judgement, the results of the current study indicated that those who use their native language showed more sensitivity to consequences, and that less religious individuals were more likely to endorse norms compared to more religious participants. These unexpected findings may be attributed either to the use of more realistic scenarios or due to some conceptual and empirical problems associated with the use of CNI model. Further, participants’ responses did not significantly differ as a result of group membership, but in line with prior research, exploratory analyses revealed that men showed greater sensitivity to consequences.