Anyone ever taken a polygraph (lie detector) test? (1 Viewer)

[Dave_Brown]

Your man is fibbing about his story to a certain extent. The investigator would not ask that question while he was hooked to the machine, and even if he would, he would not ask a leading question requiring such a long response. The spikes are quick and short, not the result of some long explanation. He would have run through the list before hand and when that question came up and it spiked, he would have stopped the exam, turned the machine off and then begun quizzing him on what he hasn't told him. Again, they aren't allowed surprise questions while the machine is live.

Perhaps something funny did happen during his exam, but I doubt this is the way it went down.

 

[Randy Tennison]

Polygraphs are only as accurate as the examiner is. It is all up to interpretation. Thus, the inadmissability in court.

A well trained examiner can be very accurate in determining truthful responses and untruthful responses. Consequently, a poorly trained examiner can miss things, which will taint his examination.

In my position as a fraud investigator, I have completed extensive training in interview and interrogation techniques, including the detection of deception. It is quite easy for me to detect deception in a person I am interviewing, so long as that person has a desire to keep that information from me. When I interview about embezzlement, they employee has a great desire to conceal their crime, thus they leak more autonomic information, both verbal and non verbal. Obviously, if I'm interviewing about something the person doesn't really care greatly about divulging, they show less signs of deception.

Polygraph examiners use the same techniques during the pre-polygraph interview. They can tell which items the person is being deceptive on, and target those areas in the polygraph. Often times, when a polygraph examiner is hired to conduct an investigation, they never get to the polygraph, because they know who committed the crime from the interview phase.

The best advise I can give is that if you truly want this job, answer every question in the pre-interview honestly. Don't conceal any information. Offer any information that you feel might register on the polygraph. Your "youthful transgressions" are to be expected, and as long as they don't continue into your adult life (and aren't serious), they will not matter. Don't try to beat the machine. Try to get the job!

A good friend was being polygraphed for a job. During the pre-interview, he answered every question, went into great detail, and offered information that was not asked. At the end, the polygraph examiner told him he did not have to take the exam. When he asked why, the examiner smiled, and said, "You believed that the polygraph would show deception, so you've told me everything. I don't need to hook you up. I believe you!". He got the job!

 

[Bill_D]

I guess a person who cannot handle stress is just plain screwed with all of his/her autonomic info leaking all over the place. I know the answer will be that this is that person's baseline. Maybe, you can use Avia to calibrate their responses back to normal.

And besides, how do I know if you are walking around with any subliminal crap from your childhood or something which would cause your intetpretation to skew? The beauty of the polygraph should be consistent results across all applications but then we add people and their interpretations into the mix?

I will need to know if the examiner is having a nice day, in good standing with the spouse, kids ok?, his/her parents doing ok, finances looking up, has the Napoleon complex (I am 6'3"), has faith in leaves since I believe the power is actually in the bark, believes that cables make a difference ...or not, etc.

 

[Bill Griffith]

Your also video taped while in the room. So realize whatever you say is on tape as well.

I would say unless you've commited a major crime (Murder, drug smuggling, espionage, etc) don't worry about it, they don't care, they might have some fun with you for a bit and ask you questions, just to get it out of your system so you can realax and get through the test.

My first examiner wasn't very good. He kept saying your not ccoperating your using countermeasures and you need to stop it now. I basically responded this is the way I normally am, and I have no idea what your talking about with countermeasures.

So they tried to set my baseline again. And the examiner was getting pissed, he shut the machines off and asked me if I know my name, I said yes of course. Then he said that when he asks me if name name is Billy I shouldn't have to think about the response I should just say yes. Well that basically crap I told him. I have to hear what he is asking me. My brain then registers 3 possible responses No Yes or I don't know, it picks the correct one and I say yes. I told him this all happens extremely quickly and I could try to speed it up but I'm not sure how. LOL

So after about 4 Hours we called it a day.

Came back the next day and a different guy was running the test. This guy was pretty cool. But still couldn't get a good base line. He said I think about things too much. I told him Thanks, thats the first time anybody every said that to me.

My friend who was going through the same thing didn't have any problems. I was pissed.

 

[Eric_L]

I took one in my psyc class in college. It measures the conductivity on your skin. Even lieing about something innocuous (I was told to lie about the color of my socks) was caught.

They tell me one way to beat the test is to put a thumbtack in your shoe and prick your toe with each answer...

My advice - have fun with it. Just be honest. Ask the tester if you can test HIM. Afterall - you have a right to know if the operator is competent; bring your own questions - lie on a few and ask the testor to identify your lies.

Could be useful to have if the test does not go favorably.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Probably; "broken telephone" and all that, perhaps the guy was embellishing his story, mis-remembered it, or (more likely) I'm not remembering it accurately either.

 

[Clint B]

Thanks to all of you for your responses. I took the polygraph test this morning (no big deal, thankfully), and they said that I was "probably non-deceptive." I guess that's good enough. Anyway, when I went to return the paperwork to the city, there was a note for me to come talk to the recruiter. They've given me a conditional offer of employment for the 911 operator position. It's contingent upon me passing a hearing and a psych exam, and the results of a final interview with "the big cheese." Although the job isn't perfect, I'm glad that they want me to work for them. It looks like my long employment search may finally be over!

 

[Bill_D]

Regardless of how I feel or what I said about those %&^X$#*& exams, CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Congratulations, Clint

* * * * * * * * *

Here's another question for you all: Has anyone ever taken a plethysmograph (peter meter) test?

From The Skeptic's Dictionary:

 

[Eric_L]

You are going to have an interesting time as a 911 operator. I was one 'back in the days' before 911. It was rolled out in my area while I was working. I worked ambulance dispatch.

You are going to hone your skills as a listener, translator (even english to english - thick accents are hard on the phone but with experience you'll understand EVERYONE!)
You will have skills at map reading, deployment and resource management.
You will also become somewhat of a counselor for bored people who will call you with trivial matters simply because they are lonely.
There wil be victories, there will be defeats. You will go home sometimes thrilled because you were integral in saving a life, or bummed because things just didn't turn out right.

During my short 18 month career I:

'Delvered' several babies while crews were on the way.
'administered' cpr and even resucitated a patient while the crews were in rout.
Got a doctor's license revoked.
Sent a crew in error to 555 Main rather than 5555 main. (still not sure if it was me or the patient, it ended up not mattering)
Listened to the radio with morbid facination as the crews looked for 'the rest' of a murder victim who had been decapitated - and then heard the rookie have to recover it once it was found while everyone shouted 'rookie swims!'.*
plus much more. You will one day have fun stories to tell. Enjoy.

* we used to have a saying 'rookie swims!'. It mean that any shitty job went to the rookie. (Like looking in a submerged car for survivors...)

 

[Stan]

I was forced to take one years ago. "Youthful Indiscretions". Did a lot of research, and found out they're basically BS. Just the examiner trying to psych you out.

Sounds really silly, but I just sang a song in my head, answered yes or no like I was a robot and turned out fine. Supposedly you have to be a "pathological liar" to pass one, but I'm truly a very decent person. Don't stress out, lie detectors are a joke. That's why they're meaningless in court.

That website is very poorly done. Looks like scam artists to me. I'd stay away.

 

[Stan]

Looking back, I was young and naïve. Worked for a privately owned tri-plex movie theatre. Some money went missing and they assumed it was me. Turned out to be another employee. Didn't really matter, I was so insulted I quit several weeks later.

The owner's wife was on the police force, so arranged for the polygraph. I probably should have sued the owner, his wife, the city, the polygrapher, whatever. But the statute of limitations had long expired when I realized how badly I was treated.

But like I mentioned earlier, don't worry. Lie detectors are worthless, just a scare tactic.

Of course I'm lying now. Just kidding, true story.

 

[DaveF]

BLAMMO! Spammer blasted! No lie! Hook me up, I'll prove it!

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I fail it every time. Okay, that's a lie.

 

[B-ROLL]

One of my college roommates used to hypnotize people to pass a Polygraph test ... and he was a Police Science major

 

[Jim517]

This thread is over 12 years old !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DaveF]

Yes. A spammer resurrected it, which renewed the conversation.

 

[Stan]

Yes. A spammer resurrected it, which renewed the conversation.

Sorry to have contributed, didn't even look at the dates and you had already zapped the spammer before I replied. That's what I love about HTF, carefully monitored. The spammers and trolls are removed before they cause problems.

 

[DaveF]

No harm in reviving an old thread. But it's always funny when a spambot pulls one out, and it gets people talking again.