ABSTRACT
A colleague of ours recalls a conversation about her research with the famous Israeli psychologist, the late Amos Tversky. The two of them discussed her research at length, first in Hebrew and then later switching into English. Tversky’s comments were more confrontational than one might typically expect in an American academic context. Interestingly, Tversky recognized this too, pausing during the English part of the conversation to observe aloud that he would have been far less critical of the research had they begun the discussion in English rather than Hebrew. This anecdote is consistent with the viewpoint expressed in this chapter: The behavior and thought of bilingual individuals are influenced by the language they use.
