Knowing a Subject well and rolling on Psychology Default

[oneofmanynameless]

The question has come up at my gaming table: Can you claim the +3 for knowing a subject well when rolling on Psychology default?

My ruling was, "Yes, everyone is better at guessing the motivations of their close friends then of guessing the motivations of people they don't know as well, regardless of whether they actually have the skill or not."

But I wanted to double check if that was the official ruling?

EDIT: the counter-argument was that there are some bonuses you can't claim when rolling on default.

[aesir23]

I think you made the right call.

And moreover, whether or not there turns out to be an "official ruling" on it, this is exactly the sort of thing that's probably best left to your judgment as a GM.

(I.e. the answer "sure, that makes sense" is usually better than, "let's look it up and see what the rules say"--especially in a game like GURPS which is designed so that, whenever possible, real-world assumptions will hold true.)

[whswhs]

There are, but I think I'd let that one fly. I mean, if you were rolling your Psychology default, and you were an American dealing with an Afghani or a Papua New Guinean, I'd certainly hit you with a penalty for lack of Cultural Familiarity, and this seems the same sort of thing.