This.... this is why I hate procedural shows like CSI and Law/Order... People do NOT understand how polygraphs work.. they're not LIE detectors. You can tell a bold faced lie IF you believe said lie, or convince yourself that you believe it. For example.. you can take one Polygraph about being a human controlled by spiders with psychopathic powers from the planet Metebelis III and fail miserably.. then convince yourself that are ARE said human, and then pass the same test.
Polygraphs work on averages and how a person's body -typically- responds to stress... THATS why Polygraphs are used as a requirement for entrance into the CIA, FBI or police forces.. it gives a measure of how you respond to being stressed, not necessarily the answers you give. For the love of the great spaghetti monster in the sky, read a book or two.. or better yet sit through the hiring process and watch what happens.. geeze. (this isnt directed at you guys, just more a statement of frustration at people clawing for anything to prove their point.. literally an appeal to authority)
*Edit.. it would appear that JDubya already beat me to the punch with this post lol ... Sorry J, didnt mean to stomp on ya there.
I realize how old this thread is, but I'm really interested in polygraphs and have some experience with it, so I just wanted to comment in the off chance that somebody revisits this thread. Maybe it will give someone some insight.
Anyway, I've taken multiple polygraphs in my lifetime with mixed results. Each one of them was for a hiring process for one job or another. It's my estimation that the US federal agencies that use them in hiring use them as a sole discriminator to cut the applicant pool when they've extended too many conditional offers of employment. The reason I say that is because they initially tell you that when evaluating polygraph results they "look at the whole person". I consider that a blatant lie. People can pass the written entrance exams, the panel interviews, the writing samples, and the PT tests, but then fail the polygraph and be disqualified even though they've provided no more evidence or statements beyond polygraph charts that something may have been omitted or fabricated on their applications. So, in cases where an applicant has passed each step of the process but had a polygraph chart that someone considers outside of acceptable parameters, the applicant basically gets disqualified based on a hunch or assumption.
Having gone through several polygraphs, I can say that the routine that the examiners use are very very predictable. I’m not necessarily saying everyone’s routine is exactly the same, but definitely close enough to recognize when the examiner is trying to manipulate you. After one of my polygraphs, the examiner told me that I failed and started going through each one of the questions again after saying he wanted to “help me out” to get me through the process and hired. That was absolutely a lie. Anyway, I offered no additional information and the interview concluded. I was later contacted by a background investigator for that same job and was told that I was moving forward in the process. When I met with that investigator he told me that the notes from the polygraph examiner stated that I had no troubles with the polygraph. Imagine my shock!!!
Here’s a bonus anecdote on a lighter note:
In a completely separate polygraph exam, during the pre-exam interview, the examiner noted that I studied Russian and served in the military to include being stationed in the Republic Of Korea for a year and commended me for it. Later on, he somehow started going down a rabbit hole that I could have possibly been a plant from the Russian mafia to smuggle drugs into and out of Korea. That was some Alex Jones level insanity that he had absolutely no basis for. I actually found it hilarious.
Too Long; Didn’t Read Version: Polygraphs are psychological manipulation.