Rather then hijack another thread I figured I’d start a new one.
I’ve heard conflicting opinions that they either do or do not work, and that you can beat one. I personally know someone who has beaten one, so I wonder why they are used in court and for applicants to jobs like Police Officers, Fire Fighters, etc.? Are they trying to scare them into admitting something?
From what I recall, the scientific basis for polygraph testing is very scanty. The things it is measuring can certainly be consciously manipulated and there isn’t a lot of evidence that they are reliably related to lying anyway.
They aren’t just used as a scare tactic, though. Security and law enforcement groups have a real stake in determining truthfulness. They really want to believe these things work, which has led to some bias in the research.
Here’s more:
They work for what they do, which is not what they are promoted as being able to do. They are good as measuring physiological reactions, which is not the same as detecting lies. I think the use of these for any purpose is a disgrace, and not far above reading tea leaves. They can be “beaten”, and quite easily.
I direct your attention to www.antipolygraph.org
Actually, they ARE just used as a scare tactic by security and law enforcement. When these groups use “the box”, they go to a great deal of trouble to convince you that the device does what they claim, which in turn will cause many of the subjects to be truthful/confess rather than be caught in a lie.
I have read a lot about polygraphs and their reliability has not been established on a scientific basis. That is why they are generally not allowed in court. I believe as CynicalGabe has said that the reason law enforcement agencies use them is to intimidate people into telling the truth. It is awful when they are used to screen job applicants, and even worse when they are used to fire people who have been doing good work at a job they have worked at for years.
I once took one as a condition of employment. I lied and I got the job. You decide.
I would not take one administered by by police to clear myself, it’s a losing move. If you pass they’ll most likely still suspect you. If you fail, even though telling the truth, you’re in deep do-do, and if it’s inconclusive, which they often seem to be, they’ll probably be more convinced that you’re guilty.
Since they measure physiological changes, not whether a lie is told, they are worthless. Someone telling the truth who is overly worried about the process can register a change, and someone who truly thinks he is telling the truth while lying, or someone who has no physical reaction to lying, can register no change when they should. IIRC the Green River Killer or some infamous person passed a polygraph years before they were caught.
Crock of BS.
I took one as a condition of employment, told the employer I thought they were a crock of shit, told the polygrapher (in nicer words) He recommended they not hire me.
I ended up being the head operator, running all the staff, handling customer accounts, etc. I saved that employers ass more times than he could count.
It CAN measure how good of a liar you are. My brother could tell you he is the queen of england, Osama bin Laden and that he lives on the moon and that damn thing wouldn’t wiggle.
I will never, ever take one again.
A former co-worker of mine had to take one when applying for a government job that would invovle handling “sensitive documents”. She thought the polygraph process was kind of lame, but that the questions were interesting.
Like if they’d ask “Are you gay?” and you uanswered “No.” Then they’d ask if you’d ever had a trist with someone of the same sex. Then they asked how many partners you’d have an whether or not you thought that was too much. It turned out that the premise of questions was to determine whether or not you could be easily blackmailed. You could be a total slut, but as long as you were totally comfortable with your sluttiness, it was perfectly fine.
Then at the end. The “interrogator” would leave the room “to consult with the technician.” They’d make you wait awhile to give you time to wonder if they’d caught you in a lie or not. Then the interrogator would come back in and very suspiciously… “So… is there anything else you want to tell me?” with a :dubious: as if to suggest the’d caught you fibbing.
She said it was pretty neat, but wondered if they could actually glean anything useful from the process.
I have recently taken one. It was an interesting experience. They part that they showed me clearly showed when I lied. They went through and asked me if today were Sunday, Monday, etc. I said no for each day. When it came to Wed (the day it was) it showed a blip on my sweat output. It didn’t fluctuate for my BP or my heart rate, but my sweat output jumped a little.
However, I know people who failed theirs who I am convinced were telling the truth, so I don’t put much stock in it.
I used to work in tech support for a small company that sold medical sensors. I was often hooked up to a polygraph for demonstration purposes. Polygraphs are great at measuring stress. They’re worthless at detecting lies. Most of the methods for beating lie detectors will work. Clench and unclench your buttocks. Alter your breathing pattern. Learn to lie with confidence. If there’s too much noise, you can’t read the signal. If the liar isn’t worried about being caught, a lie detector is useless. If somebody is too nervous, but telling the truth, it will look like a lie.
There was a time when fingerprints and DNA evidence weren’t admissible in courts. They became acceptable as evidence because they are backed by very sound science. The polygraph is still not admissable in a court of law because you get false positives, false negatives, and generally they just don’t reliably detect lies.
I took a polygraph once, as part of an employment application. I know, know, that I told only the truth. Yet I was told by the person who administered the test that I’d exhibited prevarication, and stress levels on certain sensitive questions. So I was turned down, although all my human references, for previous jobs, were impeccable.
Polygraphs are crap.
The big problem is that if you’re asked if you’re willing to take a polygraph test, you look guilty as hell if you say no. It’s the modern version of telling kids that if they masturbate they’ll grow hair on their palms.
In an in-depth analysis of lie detectors (A Tremor in the Blood , David Lykken , 1981) the accuracy of lie detectors is estimated at only 70%. As the other posters noted, all lie detectors measure is physical signs–so they are easily beaten by people who are able to hide their emotions.
Phrenological pseudoscience!
i took one for a job once (i think it is illegal to make it a condition of employment now) and i lied and i was caught immediately. so we started over and i told the truth and i got the job. it has made me a believer in their effectiveness.
i would be interested in hearing more about that test if you want to discuss it, my own experience was the opposite, but the polygrapher who did mine told me that in most states anyone can set themselves up to give the tests and most testers are incompetent. his words. my tester told me all the questions before the test, when he found me lying he told me which questions were a problem and asked me if i wanted to start over. i did and i told the truth at that point and passed. did your guy not tell you which questions were a problem? if so that sounds like a scam.
Right, exactly. The polygragh can sometimes measure stress, it can’t detect lies.
They use it to scare dudes into confessing. It works too damn often.
Now, they sometimes run a little scam to make dudes think it detects lies. Here is one of them- they hand out cards. One of them is the Ace of Spades, the rest are not. They tell everyone to say they they do NOT have the Ace of Spades. Afterwards the point to some little squiggles on the test of the dude with the Ace, and say “Viola”. But fuck, I know that *card trick, *I can do that card trick, and I watched them do the card trick.They know exactly who has the Ace, they give it to a pre-selected person. I don;t know what trick they used on **Khadaji **, but it was a trick. The point being is that since the lie is completely harmless you have no significant stress when telling it, thus the Polygraph can NOT detect that sort of lie, even it it was reliable.
Hook. Line. Sinker.
How do they know her name is Viola?