Illusory transparency in bilinguals: Does language of text affect bilingual readers’ perspective taking in reading?

• Main Authors: Estacio, Ma. Joahna Mante-, Bernardo, Allan Benedict I.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: Bilingualism; Thought and thinking; Priming (Psychology); Psycholinguistics; Reading; Perspective (Linguistics); Language and Literacy Education; Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/2198; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/faculty_research/article/3197/type/native/viewcontent
• Institution: De La Salle University

Readers of narrative texts tend to incorrectly assess the knowledge of story characters, particularly as authors sometimes provide readers privileged information that is unknown to the story characters. This error, labeled the illusory transparency of intention Keysar (Cognitive Psychology 26:165-208, 1994) shows how readers assume that privileged information is also known by story characters; this error is assumed to indicate a general difficulty individuals have in taking the perspective of others. The study investigates whether bilingual readers also demonstrate the illusory transparency effect when reading in their two languages, and tests the hypothesis that the languages activate different cultural mindsets that may or may not enhance the error. In two studies, 175 Filipino-English bilinguals were presented narrative passages in English and Filipino containing positive or negative privileged information that was either spoken or written by one of the characters. Participants assessed how a character would respond to an ambiguous remark by another character. In both studies, privileged information influenced readers’ ratings in both languages, demonstrating the illusory transparency effect in bilinguals. Study 1 did not show a moderating effect of language, but Study 2 (which had higher observed statistical power) revealed a significant moderating effect of language, where the illusory transparency effect was stronger in English texts. The results support the hypothesis that the English language primed the individualist mindset that was not supportive of cognitive processes that consider perspectives of others. The results are discussed in terms of how language plays an indirect role in shaping thought processes involved in perspective taking. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York.