Posted on 04/10/2015 5:39:30 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
“A polygraph is nothing more than a psychological billy club used to coerce and intimidate people,” says Doug Williams, a former Oklahoma City police detective and polygraph examiner who for 36 years has trained people to pass the lie-detector test. The first step is not to be intimidated. Most tests include two types of questions: relevant ones about a specific incident (“Did you leak classified information to The New York Times?”) and broader so-called control questions (“Have you ever lied to anyone who trusted you?”). The test assumes that an innocent person telling the truth will have a stronger reaction to the control questions than to the relevant ones. Before your test, practice deciphering between the two question types. “Go to the beach” when you hear a relevant question, Williams says. Calm yourself before answering by imagining gentle waves and warm sand.
When you get a control question, which is more general, envision the scariest thing you can in order to trigger physiological distress; the polygraph’s tubes around your chest measure breathing, the arm cuff monitors heart rate and electrodes attached to you fingertips detect perspiration. What is your greatest fear? Falling? Drowning? Being buried alive? “Picture that,” Williams says. He used to advise trainees to clench their anus but has since concluded that terrifying mental imagery works better.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Hillary! as president?
That will tighten your sphincter.
Yes, by all means, get rid of the polygraph tests. We will just keep loading our jails with DemocRats.....
Imagine how different the world would be if we had a true, unbeatable lie detector. This would be the greatest invention in modern history.
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| "I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense." |
Stuff was missing at work so my boss told me to take a polygraph.
The next day he said to bring it back.
Geez, can’t make up his mind!
I could never pass one with my weird heartbeat - I throw PVCs pretty often.(premature ventricular contraction)
A lie-detector “works” if the suspect taking the test believes it works and is intimidated into admitting guilt.
In reality, they are far from accurate.
Which is why the results of a polygraph test is admissible evidence in a criminal trial.
Not admissible evidence. Sorry.
I was asked at one point in my life to take a polygraph test. I’m a degreed EE. I said that I would take the test ‘conditionally’. The guy asked what I meant by ‘conditionally’. I said, “Let me give to you a polygraph test and it will be impossible for you to tell the truth. I can show that the machine says that you are lying about your own name.” He backed off immediately. ;-)
If I was ever being investigated by the police and *knew* I wasn’t guilty I’d give them anything they wanted.Fingerprints...DNA...computers,etc,etc,etc.But I’d never take a lie detector because it’s basically junk science...no more valid than the global warming scam.
I was once falsely accused of threatening a guy who it turned out was a nut and a hard core criminal. Part of the accusations was that I cursed him repeatedly.
I was a Federal agent at the time and had to be investigated.
I was not really worried because as luck would have it, another agent happened to be present but unseen at the scene. His written report backed me up totally. Still they had to do the investigation.
The interesting thing was the inspector finished the examination then we just sat there for another half hour and shot the bull. To my surprise he mentioned that he noted I had never used a single word of profanity during the entire time. It then struck me that he was still investigating when I thought he had finished and we were just talking.
On one hand, it is probably better to just not say anything in a serious case but in my particular situation, since it was pretty clear cut, I was probably better off totally cooperating.
I did realize just how tricky they could be.
I had to take a pre-employment polygraph once and failed it even though I answered every question truthfully. I was intimidated by the whole process, including the operator. I was not offered the job.
First of all, what is an EE? How would you go about making the machine give the report that the examiner is lying about his name?
I understand there are jobs where this is required. But if it’s not, do not ever subject yourself to a polygraph. It’s like speaking to a cop. No good will ever come from it.
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