{"id":2988,"date":"2001-06-04T15:00:49","date_gmt":"2001-06-04T20:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/?p=2988"},"modified":"2021-02-19T08:47:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T13:47:46","slug":"pandoras-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/2001\/06\/04\/pandoras-box\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Pandora&#8217;s Box&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry\">\n\n\n<p><em>US News and World Report<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20010619052130\/http:\/\/www.usnews.com\/usnews\/issue\/010611\/usnews\/spy.b.htm\">provides some background<\/a> on the so-called &#8220;lie-detector.&#8221; Despite its use by over 20 federal agencies, polygraph &#8220;technology&#8221; (circa 1915) has never been proven to determine truth from deception with better than chance accuracy under field conditions. Excerpt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Most U.S. courts ban their use as evidence. A federal law bars private firms from using them to screen job applicants. Even Attorney General John Ashcroft concedes they have a 15 percent error rate. Despite all this, the use of polygraphs is sharply expanding in the federal government. Over 20 federal agencies now use the &#8220;lie detector&#8221; for security, criminal investigation, and screening job seekers.<\/p><p>&#8230;<\/p><p>&#8220;Junk science.&#8221; The concept is simple enough: A technician hooks monitors to one&#8217;s arm, fingers, and chest, which measure changes in the body&#8217;s pulse, temperature, respiration, and skin moisture. Polygraph operators say sharp fluctuations can be evidence of deception. Critics, however, brand the entire field &#8220;junk science&#8221; and claim that the best scientific studies show error rates of 40 percent or more. &#8220;It&#8217;s little better than flipping a coin,&#8221; says University of Minnesota psychologist David Lykken.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US News and World Report provides some background on the so-called &#8220;lie-detector.&#8221; Despite its use by over 20 federal agencies, polygraph &#8220;technology&#8221; (circa 1915) has never been proven to determine truth from deception with better than chance accuracy under field conditions. Excerpt: Most U.S. courts ban their use as evidence. A federal law bars private &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-polygraph","7":"anons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2989,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988\/revisions\/2989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}