Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0005-6458-9541

Graduation Year

2026

Date of Submission

4-2026

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Mark Costanzo

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Rights Information

2026 Aleeza Saeed

Abstract

People often believe they can tell when someone is lying, yet deception detection is rarely as accurate as it feels. The present study examined how culture, gender, confidence, and cue reliance shape deception judgments across cultures. A total of 260 undergraduate participants from Pakistan and the United States watched eight short video clips of female speakers from both cultural groups making truthful or deceptive statements. After each clip, participants judged whether the speaker was telling the truth or lying, rated their confidence on a 0–100 scale, and reported how much they relied on verbal/content cues and nonverbal/behavioral cues. Results showed a significant cultural-match effect: participants were more accurate when judging speakers from their own cultural group than speakers from the other cultural group. Participants were also significantly overconfident overall, with confidence exceeding actual accuracy. Gender differences emerged in confidence and perceived performance: men reported higher confidence than women, but gender did not significantly predict accuracy. Cue reliance also differed by culture. Pakistani participants reported greater reliance on nonverbal/behavioral cues, whereas U.S. participants reported greater reliance on verbal/content cues. These results show that deception detection is not only about identifying truth or lies, but additionally about interpreting communication through culturally familiar expectations. The results show the importance of studying deception detection in diverse samples and suggest that confidence and cue reliance should be interpreted carefully, especially in cross-cultural settings.

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