Bilingualism is related to reduced social biases: the role of cognitive flexibility and motivation to respond without prejudice

More efficient executive control (EC) has been related to reduced expression of social biases, relation that is influenced by motivation to respond without prejudice. At the same time, previous studies have shown connections between bilingualism and more efficient EC. Can these EC benefits observed in bilinguals translate into the social context? We preregistered and tested a model that links bilingualism with reduced explicit social biases. In the model, this relationship is mediated by EC and moderated by motivation to respond without prejudice. We analysed questionnaire data from 397 bilinguals and 415 monolinguals and found an association between bilingualism and explicit bias that was mediated by self-reported cognitive flexibilityand moderated by internal motivation. Particularly, bilingualism was associated with increased self-reported cognitive flexibility, and higher self-reported cognitive flexibility was related to fewer social biases. Nonetheless, the differences were observed when comparing bilinguals and monolinguals who had lower internal motivation to respond without prejudice. Exploratoryanalyses allowed us to rule out multicultural experiences as the main factor explaining reduced explicit bias in bilinguals. This study provides the first evidence of the relationships between social biases, bilingualism, cognitive flexibility, and motivation to respond without prejudice.