The expectancy violation model proposes that people infer deception when the communicator violates social norms without obvious cause. However, social norms are culture specific. Therefore, discrepant norms between a communicator and an observer in a cross-cultural interaction might increase the likelihood of inferring deception and thus result in bias. The present study investigated whether informing people about cultural differences in nonverbal behavior could counteract cross-cultural bias in deception judgments. Sixty-nine Australian students were randomly assigned to receive no information, general information, or specific information about culture-specific behavioral norms prior to making credibility judgments of 10 video clips (5 norm consistent and 5 norm inconsistent). The results suggest that cross-cultural biases in deception judgments can occur but may also be prevented by providing appropriate information. These findings require further investigation but have potentially significant implications in law enforcement, customs, immigration, and broader societal interactions.

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The aim of this study is to determine whether the presence of the interjection 'um' can distinguish between the deceptive and truthful speech of individuals who are practised in the art of impression management. A total of 50 truthful and 61 deceptive statements were extracted from the speech of celebrities participating in a televised comedy panel show where celebrity guests try to convince an opposing team of their truthfulness. Participants' use of 'um' (measured as a percentage of the total word count of each statement) was analysed. The results show that, on average, 'um' was used almost three times as often in the speakers' true statements compared to their false ones. A discriminant analysis revealed that the presence of 'um' is more effective than human judgement alone in determining veracity. These findings suggest that the presence of the filler 'um' in speech is useful in the identification of true versus false oral statements.

Background: University students are four times more likely to experience elevated levels of psychological distress compared to their peers. The psychosocial needs of university students are associated with high psychological distress, stressful life events, and academic performance. Our study focuses on developing a measure to help universities identify these psychosocial needs. Aims: The study aimed to develop and validate the factor structure of the University Needs Instrument and identify the relationship between psychosocial needs, psychological distress and academic performance among university students. Sample: Undergraduate university students (N = 511) currently studying at university. Method: Participants completed demographic questions, the University Needs Instrument and the Kessler-10 Psychological Distress scale. The University Needs Instrument comprises 30 items within six psychosocial factors (academic support, financial support, support from family, support from friends, practical support and emotional support), each consisting of five items. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that all items significantly loaded on the six hypothesized factors. The hypothesized model was supported by the data displaying This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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