Cultural and Cross-cultural Factors in Judgments of Credibility Paola Andrea Castillo Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) (Honours) Submitted in complete fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Psychology Charles Sturt University March 2011 Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ............................................................................. VII CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP ...............................................................................IX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................XI PROFESSIONAL EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE ............................................................. XIII ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... XV CHAPTER 1 : LYING AND LIE DETECTION ................................................ 17 Defining deception and lying ........................................................................... 18 Nature and frequency of lying ......................................................................... 19 RESEARCH ON LIE DETECTION PERFORMANCE....................................................... 23 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO BEHAVIOURAL CORRELATES OF DECEPTION ......... 28 Behavioural indicators of deception ................................................................ 32 Stereotypical cues to deception ........................................................................ 38 MAKING JUDGMENTS OF DECEPTION ..................................................................... 43 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. 51 CHAPTER 2 : CULTURE, LYING, AND CROSS-CULTURAL JUDGMENTS OF CREDIBILITY ...................................................................... 55 CULTURE AND THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS ..................................................... 56 Individualism- Collectivism ............................................................................. 61 Power distance ................................................................................................. 63 Context ............................................................................................................. 64 Immediacy ........................................................................................................ 65 CROSS-CULTURAL ISSUES IN DECEPTION ............................................................... 66 COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE FACTORS IN CROSS-CULTURAL LIE DETECTION .......... 76 iii Stereotypes and prejudice ................................................................................ 76 Ethnocentrism .................................................................................................. 78 Second language use ........................................................................................ 79 AIMS OF THE THESIS ............................................................................................. 82 Overview of the present research program ..................................................... 84 CHAPTER 3 STUDY 1: LYING AND TRUTH-TELLING IN AUSTRALIA AND COLOMBIA ................................................................................................. 87 METHOD ............................................................................................................... 89 Participants ...................................................................................................... 89 Materials .......................................................................................................... 89 Procedure ......................................................................................................... 92 RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 99 Behavioural differences across cultures ........................................................ 100 Behavioural differences between lying and truth-telling conditions ............. 104 Behavioural differences across cultures and veracity conditions ................. 105 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 106 CHAPTER 4 STUDY 2: LYING AND TRUTH-TELLING IN A SECOND LANGUAGE......................................................................................................... 111 METHOD ............................................................................................................. 113 Participants .................................................................................................... 113 Materials ........................................................................................................ 114 Procedure ....................................................................................................... 114 RESULTS ............................................................................................................. 115 Behavioural differences across languages .................................................... 116 Behavioural differences between lying and truth-telling conditions ............. 118 iv Behavioural differences across language and veracity conditions ............... 119 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 119 CHAPTER 5 STUDY 3: AUSTRALIAN AND COLOMBIAN BELIEFS ABOUT BEHAVIOUR AND DECEPTION CUES .......................................... 123 METHOD ............................................................................................................. 124 Participants .................................................................................................... 124 Materials ........................................................................................................ 124 Procedure ....................................................................................................... 127 RESULTS ............................................................................................................. 129 Beliefs about differences in behaviour ........................................................... 129 Confidence ratings for vocal and nonverbal behaviour ................................ 132 Stereotypical cues to deception ...................................................................... 132 Confidence ratings for stereotypical beliefs .................................................. 136 Cultural perceptions ...................................................................................... 138 Stereotypical cues used in lie detection ......................................................... 139 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 140 CHAPTER 6 STUDY 4: CULTURAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL FACTORS IN JUDGMENTS OF CREDIBILITY ............................................................... 147 CULTURAL AND LANGUAGE FACTORS IN JUDGMENTS OF CREDIBILITY ................ 148 Signal detection framework ........................................................................... 149 INDIVIDUAL FACTORS IN JUDGMENTS OF CREDIBILITY ........................................ 151 METHOD ............................................................................................................. 154 Participants .................................................................................................... 154 Materials ........................................................................................................ 154 Procedure ....................................................................................................... 158 v RESULTS ............................................................................................................. 160 Signal detection analysis ............................................................................... 161 Trustworthiness .............................................................................................. 165 Confidence ratings ......................................................................................... 168 Stereotyping and prejudice attitudes ............................................................. 170 Nationalism/Patriotism .................................................................................. 171 Predicting cultural bias ................................................................................. 172 Predicting language bias ............................................................................... 174 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 175 Discriminability ............................................................................................. 175 Response bias ................................................................................................. 178 Ratings of credibility ...................................................................................... 180 Individual difference factors .......................................................................... 181 CHAPTER 7 GENERAL DISCUSSION ........................................................... 183 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 193 APPENDICES 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