Abstract: Foreign-Language Effect refers to that individuals in foreign language background have lower risk decision bias than those in their native language background. Most of the studies on the factors affecting the Foreign-Language Effect focus on external factors and factors related to individual foreign language proficiency, while few studies explored the influence of cognitive style on the Foreign-Language Effect. Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure are 2 important factors affecting risky decision-making, which are closely related to each other. High Need for Cognition can promote individuals' motivation to seek information and improve the quality of decision-making, while high Need for Cognitive Closure tend to motivate individuals to adopt heuristic thinking to make decisions quickly because they cannot tolerate the ambiguity of the situation. This study aims to explore the joint effect of Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure on risky decision-making and Foreign-Language Effect. The present study employed 2 (language type: Chinese/English) ×2 (frame type: positive/negative) between-group design. We recruited 524 adults as participants and measured their Need for Cognition, Need for Cognitive Closure and risky decision-making tendency. Risky decision-making questionnaire includes four classic questions: Asian disease problem, mountaineering team problem, dancing party problem and economic investment problem. Need for Cognition were measured by the revised Chinese Version of Need for Cognition Scale, and Need for Cognitive Closure were measured by the Chinese version of the Need for Cognitive Closure Scale. All scales showed high internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity in the present study. The data were analyzed by hierarchical linear regression. The results show that, firstly, there existed Foreign-Language Effect in risky decision-making. Compared with the native language background, the Framing Effect is weakened in the foreign language background. Secondly, the triple interaction between Need for Cognition, Need for Cognitive Closure and language type on risky decision-making was significant. To be specific, for individuals who are low in both Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure and individuals who are high in both Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure, language type influenced their risky decision-making. They showed risk aversion in native language and risk seeking in foreign language. Due to the conflicting thinking ed by Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure, individuals had no obvious preference for heuristic or analytical thinking, and their final tendency for decision-making depended on the language environment. However, for individuals with different levels of Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure, language type has no significant effect on their risky decision-making. Compared with individuals with low Need for Cognition and high Need for Cognitive Closure, individuals with high Need for Cognition and low Need for Cognitive Closure have a stronger motivation to seek information and are more susceptible to emotional influences, and showed risk aversion in both foreign and native language environment. In sum, the present study confirms the existence of Foreign-Language Effect in risky decision-making, and provides further evidence for how cognitive style comprehensively influence risk decision-making. The results of this study indicated that Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure only affected risk decision making but not foreign language effect, suggesting that there are different internal mechanisms of loss aversion and framing effect, which need to be further investigated. It also has referential value for people to improve their decision quality.

Key words: Risky Decision-Making, Foreign-Language Effect, Need for Cognition, Need for Cognitive Closure

摘要： 外语效应指相比于母语背景，个体在外语背景下风险决策偏差会降低。针对影响外语效应的因素研究大多聚焦于外部因素和与个体外语水平相关的因素，少有研究探讨认知风格的作用。本研究通过524名成人被试，探索认知需求和认知闭合需求对外语效应的影响。结果表明：(1)风险决策中存在外语效应，相比于母语背景，外语背景下框架效应被削弱，且个体更偏向风险寻求。(2)对于认知需求和认知闭合需求都高或都低的个体，语言类型会影响风险决策，在母语环境下倾向于风险规避，在外语环境下倾向于风险寻求；而对于认知需求和认知闭合需求高低不一致的个体，语言类型对其风险决策倾向的影响不显著。本研究为认知风格如何综合影响风险决策提供了进一步的证据。

关键词: 风险决策, 外语效应, 认知需求, 认知闭合需求