[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Polygraph (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 7/30/2008 9:38:55 AM EDT
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Hey guys, Just had a question. I'm currently involved in the hiring process at one of the police departments in South Carolina. I've passed the physical abilities test, the nelson denny, the background investigation, and now I am up for the polygraph. My question is, what can I expect? How was your experience with it? |
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They'll strap something around your chest to measure your breathing. They'll strap something around your arm to measure your heart rate. They'll clip something on your finger to measure the moisture on your skin. You'll tell the truth. Then you'll be done. I've done it several times before. It's no problem. Don't listen to the nervous-Nellies on here. |
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I don't want to say control your breathing, but don't change the way you breathe half way through it. Just take nice even breaths, don't stress, tell the truth. Also, do not let the polygraph examiner make you change your answers. Tell the truth from the beginning and stick to it. If not, even if you pass and you changed your answer it can still come back to bite you in the ass. An example. Don't tell your B.I. that you stole say xx amount, then change your mind because you are having second thoughts when the polygraph examiner starts to grill you (some do) and change your answer to xxx. Be up front and make sure all your answers are the same you told your B.I. |
| I don't know how reliable polygraphs are but I do know that most people exhibit certain symptoms of lying to include forced unnatural facial expressions, sweating and increased heartbeat, failure to look the accuser in the eye, and the list goes on and on. I would assume the polygraph can test for some of these symptoms fairly accurately but there are so many things that could also cause the same symptoms. I believe that simply being faced with a "lie detector" would increase the nervousness based symptoms thereby making it more useful in finding out if you do have something, anything, to hide. Any way you slice it, a polygraph machine is a good tool to start looking for lies, but should never be used for definitive answers. |
They love 'em. Polygraphs / CVSA exams are terrific interrogation tools. They don't "detect truth or lies", but most people think they do... so they start to sweat and spill the beans. |
This is my understanding as well^^ |
It's true...The polygraph is all about trickery and how cool you can be under interrogation. There is no machine that can tell you that you are lying!..If you can remain calm and control your breathing (heart rate to a degree) you have nothing to worry about...if your less than truthful about your past shenanigans.. I have had no less than 10 polygraph exams... (Disclaimer)Not that I have had anything to hide but some things do not need to be disclosed during a polygraph exam.. |
Dang It! You beat me to it!! You are only as guilty as you feel! BIGGER_HAMMER 
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I had heard that the administrator of the polygraph could say nothing about what you answered, except if you were lying. Just tell the truth, and don't do any of the tricks. Breathe, relax, in your mind tell yourself that the guy is a buddy, and not some intimidating figure. Tell the truth |
Think about it logically. A machine can only measure what are essentially stress responses. There is no scientific basis to conclude that a particular stress response is due to lying. All they have is a guesstimation that people will feel stress about telling a lie. What is that guesstimation worth? Well, according to the National Academy of Sciences, nothing. If I ever have to take one of those things and the idiot says I am lying, I am going to tell him that when I divined the pile of goat intestines it said I was not lying. Statistically, both methods are just as accurate. |
Yep. Lost a lot of people in my hiring pool to the polygraph. Some flat out didn't show up, others admitted to things before the poly even began. |
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My expierence sucked. I was absolutely honest, yet they circle two question and labeled them as DI (deception indicated) and eliminated me from the process. The biggest thing is tell them everything up front, or at least here. They go through all of the question first and you can tell them the answers and discuss it, but they will know what to expect. Other than that it was just a bunch of questions and they went through it three times giving the results to three different detectives to analyze and then compare notes. Only reason I can figure they flagged me on the two questions was that I found them funny and kinda chuckled at them. One question was have you every stolen money from your employer...strikes me funny since I had only been self employed up to that point Mostly question like: Have you every stolen Have you ever used drugs Have you ever commited an act of domestic violence Do you harbor anti-goverment sentiments... Crap like that An example, to what I was talking about, in the pre-question if you told them you got drunk in college once and slapped your girlfriend, they change the question to: "Have you every commited an act of domestiv violence, other than what we previously talked about?" T |
I absolutely fucking hated my poly. I felt like a real piece of shit after walking out of that room  . Passed though because I told the truth.
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All they asked me about was gang membership, drug sales, crimes of violence and sex crimes. I felt fine, because I sure as hell had never done anything like that! Maybe different agencies have a different screening process? |
I had a 30+ page questionnaire about everything, and I mean everything.  I haven't done anything bad (as evidence by my being hired) but all that tiny shit seems to add up when you're talking about it.
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| I have been Polyed twice. No problems for me since I didn't need to lie. I KNOW for a fact several people who have beat them. I couldn't believe it when I heard their results. I guess that is why they aren't admissible in court. If you need to beat it Google is your friend. |
In the one I took there were pressure pads on the seat and arm rests of the chair. My friend asked the polygraph dude if he could fart in the chair and see if it showed on screen. It did. 
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The polygraph was originally CREATED by POLICE! They had some pseudoscientific data on the heart rate, etc changing when someone lies. The problem is, it doesn't measure falsehood. The p-graph measures STRESS. When you lie, your heart rate goes up, your breathing increases, and your palms sweat. when you see a sexy girl, your heart rate goes up, your breathing increases, and your palms sweat. When someone asks you an uncomfortable question, your heart rate goes up, your breathing increases, and your palms sweat. It is a witch hunt. |
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They'll start off by trying to convince you that you can't beat it.....and then they'll pick your background apart.....past drug use, etc...... It works off your reaction to questions...try not to get worked up if you are gonna lie....not sayin you would....lol Just try to relax and don't play their game..... |
Is that before or after they ask you if you have researched polygraph testing... What a crock of... In fact, I would love to open a business that hired professional testers JUST SO YOU CAN PASS THE THING. Fail a couple times till you learn how to pass, all the time having a new tester at each turn. It would be great... |
They have this. If the police ever ask you to take a polygraph say no, hire a good lawyer, and he'll shop you through several polygraph "experts" until you pass with flying colors. Then you release that test and the police whine of "he won't take a polygraph" becomes the much less effective "well, he won't take it with our guy." But, after all, it is scientific so it doesn't matter who administers it, does it? |
From this thread:
Here you have a polygraph examiner admitting that it's really all up to the judgment of the examiner whether you were lying or not. They're going to determine if you're a thief because of some guy's opinion? There's a reason polygraphs aren't admissible in court. Back in the 1980s I had a coworker at a manufacturing company that moonlighted as a serial thief. He used to give fake names and get hired at Radio Shacks. Of course RS used a pre-employment polygraph, which this guy always passed with flying colors. Then he would work nights and wait until he was scheduled to close. After closing he and a buddy with a pick-up truck would simply empty the store and lock up. About 3am he would have the friend drive by and throw a cinder block through the front window. The alarm company would call him at home and wake him up, and he would arrive in his slippers after the cops got there. It looked like a simple burglary. And this guy was never suspected. After all, he was at home several miles away when the alarm went off. He'd work for a little while longer then quit. And a few months later he'd apply at a different Radio Shack under a different name, pass the poly, then empty out another store. He used to hit 2 or 3 a year for several years. That's when I figured out that polygraphs only "catch" honest people who are worried about actually telling the truth. They pose no threat to actual hard-core criminals. I found out about this whole operation one day when this guy invited me over to his apartment one day after work. His place was absolutely packed wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with Radio Shack merchandise new in the boxes. He needed more room to store his loot and wanted to use space in my garage. He offered me anything I wanted, like TVs, VCR, stereos, etc. I said no thanks and left. |
first they will ask you to say no to every question as a control ie Are you living in x?" atleast when i did it they went over all the questions first so theres no suprises. |
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If you really want to piss them off, you wait until you're at the very end of the exam, and right before the last question, sneeze. (I swear I didn't do it on purpose...) <examiner>: "Have you blah, blah, blah?" <me>: "No" <examiner>: "One last question, ..." <me>: ATCHOO!! <examiner>: "Ahhh shit!!!!" 
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No. Never make an admission, especially if it is something upon which you could face legal consequences. "Oh yeah Mr. FBI man, I accidentally downloaded kiddie pr0n while violating copyright laws to pirate my favorit rap stars on peer to peer networks. So did I pass the lie detector test? I really want to be a Special Agent." 
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My only personal experience with a polygraph was training myself to fool one as a special project in a Physiological Psychology class when I was an undergraduate. I found it very easy to do. Of course I was in a low-pressure academic setting. It may be very different when you are in a live test for a job. |