WIRED News: Polygraphs Don't Give True Story

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

Polygraphs Don't Give True Story

By Noah Shachtman
02:00 AM May. 14, 2004 PT

The military may have ways -- gruesome ways -- of making people talk, as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal has shown. But it still doesn't have a reliable method for figuring out whether those people are telling the truth or not.

Nearly 75 years since the introduction of the polygraph, there's still nothing close to a foolproof lie detector. Traditional methods for catching a fibber have been battered by scientific study. And, despite endless waves of hype, the high-tech alternatives -- brain scans, thermal images and voice analysis -- have withered under scrutiny, or remain largely unproven.

"Everybody would love to have a lie detector that works. But wanting it isn't going to make it happen," said Stephen Kosslyn, a Harvard University professor of psychology.

"You can flip a coin, and get the same results," said Mike Ritz, a former Army interrogator who now trains people to withstand questioning.

More at: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,63452,00.html

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IMHO the polygraph is the most intrusive, insulting, and useless thing to ever come down the pike. I was polygraphed once, and it did nothing but piss me off from beginning to end. I will never submit to it again.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. I took one once for a job I was applying for

I didn't really care if I got the job or not, so I figured what the heck, let's see what happens.

I ended up passing the thing with 'flying colors' (according to the tester) and I had lied my ass off.

[depakid]

2. That's why polygraph evidence is not admissible

as evidence in court. It's simply not reliable. Sociopaths can easy defeat polgraphs to create false negatives and people who actually have feelings can easily be hit with a false positive.

My advice is to never EVER take a polygraph. Period. If you absolutely have to in order to keep you job, take something like an ativan or xanax abot 45 minutes before you get to the office.