DETECTION OF DECEPTIVE BEHAVIOR: A CROSS-CULTURAL TEST

Abstract

This article reports a cross-cultural test for the detection of deception from behavior. Jordanians and Malaysians were videotaped while lying and telling the truth, and Jordanians and Malaysians judged the resulting tapes for deception. The experiment was conducted at Yarmouk University; the subjects were 40 Jordanian students and 32 Malaysian students. Results show that lies can be detected across cultures from an audiovisual presentation. Ancillary results reveal cross- cultural consensus in judgments of deception from both auditory and visual cues. Discrimination between lies and the truth was clear – and was more accurate for targets who tried to convey, rather than conceal, it.