The Role of Language and Identity in the Moral Judgments and Evaluations of Daily Prosocial Behaviors

Objectives: This study extends foreign language effect (FLe) research to daily prosocial behaviors, examining whether language moderates the effect of helper–beneficiary identity (kin vs. stranger) on prosocial moral judgments and exploring the role of emotional arousal in FLe. Methodology: Eight everyday helping scenarios were developed. Experiment 1 used paper-and-pen questionnaires with university students ( N = 776); Experiment 2 used an online sample of working adults ( N = 192) and also measured self-reported emotional arousal. In both experiments, Chinese (L1)-English (L2) adult learners were randomly assigned to conditions defined by language (English vs. Chinese) and identity (relative vs. stranger), rating moral goodness, trustworthiness of the helper, and willingness to help. Data and Analysis: Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models in R; Experiment 2 further employed mediation analyses for emotional arousal. Findings/Conclusions: The foreign language increased moral goodness ratings across both experiments and influenced trust judgments (interaction in Experiment 1, main effects in Experiment 2), but did not affect willingness to help. Mediation analyses in Experiment 2 suggested that the FLe on willingness operated through reduced emotional arousal, whereas its effects on goodness and trust were not mediated by arousal. Identity (stranger > relative) reliably affected moral goodness in both experiments, supporting correspondent inference theory, but its effects on trust and willingness were less consistent. These findings suggest that FLe extends to daily prosocial behaviors in a dimension-specific manner, with family obligations playing a greater role in willingness than in evaluative judgments of others. Originality: This study originally extends FLe research to positive daily prosocial behaviors, systematically examines the interaction between language and helper–beneficiary identity, and explores the mediating role of emotional arousal. Significance: This study provides empirical evidence for generalizing the FLe to daily prosocial behaviors and offers insights into how language and family obligations jointly shape moral judgments in bilingual settings and examines the role of emotional arousal in FLe.