# Has anyone here taken a polygraph test? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-taken-a-polygraph-test/212265 "2003-11-09T18:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-taken-a-polygraph-test/212265/21 "2003-11-10T15:17:13Z")
Much like **leenmi** , I went through a polygraph test once in connection with my security clearance. I was working in the defense industry at the time (I have since changed industries), and they were running _everybody_ through counterintelligence polys. (A counterintel poly is where they ask about your likelihood of breaking security and potential to be compromised. Contrast this with the full lifestyle poly, where they ask about any bloody thing they please, especially your sexual habits.) The only thing I can add to **leenmi** ’s description of the poly is that I kept having problems with the blood pressure cuff. They had to adjust it to its minimum tightness, and my arm _still_ fell asleep. I tried to shake out the arm DURING THE TEST, and drew a sharp “Don’t do that!” from the examiner. To address the OP about what it’s like: You sit in an armchair for a while. There’s tubes around your chest to measure your breathing, a pressure cuff on your arm to measure your blood pressure, and clips on your fingers to measure your pulse rate. You’re not supposed to move _ **at all** _ during the test, not even your eyes. The examiner sits out of your line of vision. They ask assorted questions (which IME they had already reviewed with me), and after each question they pause for a bit to see if the readings change. Assuming the exam is routine and you aren’t hiding anything, the whole experience is rather quite boring, depending on your level of test anxiety. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-taken-a-polygraph-test/212265/22 "2003-11-10T16:07:41Z")
Give this a good read, then give print to the person administering the test, as well as the HR department. Watch sparks fly. [Skeptical Inquirer magazine : July/August 2001 Polygraphs and the National Labs: Dangerous Ruse Undermines National Security By: Alan P. Zelicoff](http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-07/polygraph.html) One quote give us something to ponder: > [@](#): > > The polygraph has its own colorful history, not unlike its Roman predecessor [consulting chicken intrails]. In 1915, a Harvard professor named William Moulton Marston developed what he termed a “lie detector” based on measurements of blood pressure. A few other bells and whistles were added over time, but for all intents and purposes the polygraph has remained unchanged over the past eighty-five years. Marston went on to gain fame not as the inventor of the polygraph, but from the cartoon character he created: Wonder Woman, who snapped a magic lasso that corralled evildoers and forced them to tell the truth. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-taken-a-polygraph-test/212265/23 "2003-11-10T16:15:23Z")
People who practice biofeedback (which I myself find to be a bit whacky, but to each his own) could take a polygraph test and claim that they raped the pope with an alien anal probe, and come back as truthfull. Relaxation techniques have been shown to work as well. ---
**Author:** ![Badge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Badge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-taken-a-polygraph-test/212265/24 "2003-11-10T21:13:02Z")
I took one to be hired, some 16 years ago. I didn’t find it very stressful at all, though I agree that it was uncomfortable. The process involved going through a long questionaire of specific questions, then I was shown a list of 15 (IIRC) questions that would be asked while I was hooked up. These were things like: Did you lie about your criminal history? Did you lie about any sexual crimes? Did you lie about your drug use? Since I had been honest about everything in the questionaire, passing the poly was no problem. Remember, they may not care about some past problems, but if you fail the poly you’re probably eliminated. Tell the truth on everything, then the poly is no sweat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-taken-a-polygraph-test/212265.md?page=1)