Forum on 15 – Belief, truth, and dissonance: The role of bilingualism on the evaluation of socio-political ideologies

This talk explores the psychological roots of our beliefs, the concept of truth, and the various mechanisms we employ in order to maintain a cohesive picture of the world that matches personal values. In so doing, we will explore recent psycholinguistic literature on the role of bilingualism in making belief-motivated moral judgments, as well as the many variables that affect bilinguals’ decisions as compared to monolinguals. Given the growing population of bi- and multilinguals worldwide, as well as recent political climates across the globe, we will discuss the above literature in the context of a pilot study examining sociopolitical decision making among bilinguals living in the United Kingdom during Brexit, and we will assess the role of specific linguistic variables that seem to influence decision making more generally among this population.

Part of the Forum on 15: https://huminst.uic.edu/ifth/events/working-groups/Forum-on-15/2018-2019