The nickname “lie detector” is somewhat of a misnomer. A polygraph does not detect “lies” per se – rather, it detects changes in a person’s physiology as they react to stressors, which may or may not indicate that they are lying, depending on a lot of factors that the examiner must take into account.
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe]
Never take a polygraph, ever…
Polygraphs are complete garbage and are only used to get people to confess. It’s 100 percent psychological. I’ve done loads of research about it because I was considering a career in the CIA at one point and this is the reason why I didn’t do it. The CIA polygraphers are a bunch of scary people. Here’s an example of some of the tricks they pull.
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[slight hijack]
I’m not so sure. While I do agree that polygraphy is questionable at best (I’m not a huge proponent of it, myself), I don’t think that it’s the soul-crushing, power-drunk concoction you seem to think it is. Then again, different agencies use different methods. Normally, your examiner is as interested in your passing as you are. He knows examinees get jittery and nervous, and he’ll know a variety of methods to help them relax and feel at ease. The examiner’s only goal during testing is to get clear readings, with as little noise as possible. The analysis comes after the test is completed. I’m generalizing here, though, because I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with the CIA’s methods – they may very well do things stupidly/differently – but I think it’s a mistake to broadly slam polygraphy due to CIA horror stories, even if I’m not a big fan of polygraphy myself.
Also, the purpose of a polygraph is not to force people to confess to things. If your examiner thinks you’re lying, he’s not going to badger you into confessing your story. He’ll simply say “you failed” and pull your clearance (which will most likely put you under investigation – carried out by law enforcement, not examiners). An aggressive examiner is already going to muddy the reading by becoming a stressor – he has to remain as neutral as possible. Any discomfort caused at all will skew the test. They are not interrogators. The polygraph is utilized mainly as a deterrent to espionage – not to get people to admit to it, but rather to discourage people from commiting it in the first place. You are correct that it’s 100% psychological – that’s sort of the whole point of the thing. “Perhaps I shouldn’t spy against my country because I may get caught during my next polygraph.”
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Back on topic, I agree with the assertion that the polygraph is more a prop than an actual game mechanic. A polygraph test, in order to have the most accurate readings, needs to be in an incredibly controlled environment, with a lot of feedback between both tester and tested, and as little external stimulus as possible. Otherwise, there’s a lot of physiological noise generated, which makes it impossible to distinguish between truth and lies. Even in these perfectly controlled environments, questions are repeated many times throughout the session in order to average out the “noise.” (There will always be some noise – breathing, muscle fatigue, itches, etc) You can’t tell from answering any particular question just once whether or not it’s the truth. If you don’t take an average, then you are asking for false positives. You also need to continually restablish the “baselines” by repeating those diagnostic questions over and over throughout the test, as a person’s bodily reactions will deviate as the test progresses (changes in the environment, and changes in the person’s body). The reading for “Is today Friday?” at the beginning of the test and the end of the test will look different, even if the answer stays the same, and the examiner needs to be able to track these patterns and account for them.
For many official polygraphs, the score has to be agreed on by no less than 3 people independently before it’s considered final (they are recorded and sent off for independent review – this also prevents potential abuses by the examiner). Any disagreement results in a retest. Again, the CIA may do things differently, I wouldn’t know. This game show is positively not going for accuracy.
I haven’t watched the show, but from what I’ve read/heard, the technical premise behind this show is a sham. It’s all cheap and sleazy voyeuristic thrills, as far as I’m concerned (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing - just disabuse yourselves of the notion the polygraph serves any real purpose at all in the outcome of this show – or if it does, then the contestants are being scammed, bigtime).
) Then again, I’ve never been in any kind of committed relationship, I’ve never done anything egregious in the workplace (certainly nothing on the level of stealing from a co-worker or ignoring safety regulations), and all my scrapes with the law have been penny-ante things like parking tickets. So there’s no way in hell I’d be accepted in the first place.