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Subsection 4 is titled "Countermeasures and/or Creating Truthful Charts." Dean writes:


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There is A LOT of information out there on how to beat or "sting" the polygraph. Some information is better than others while some is entirely wrong. I am always amazed at individuals who claim to have been polygraph examiners and then publish incorrect information! Even if you have good information, employing the countermeasures takes practice and skill. You may think you are competent after practicing for several days or even weeks before your polygraph test. However, consider the fact that the polygraph examiner spends their entire day, five days a week, conducting polygraph tests. The examiner is aware of counter measure techniques and is in fact, watching for them. Invariably the examiner is better at catching countermeasures than a person is at doing them. If you are caught using countermeasures, the worst is assumed, and most department's consider it an "automatic out".

Dean's claim that "Invariably the examiner is better at catching countermeasures than a person is at doing them" reflects a common conceit of the polygraph community. However, in peer-reviewed laboratory studies conducted by Professor Charles R. Honts of Boise State University, polygraph examiners were not able to detect sophisticated countermeasures attempts at better than chance levels. (See the bibliography of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for citations and abstracts.) If you have mastered the polygraph countermeasures explained in Chapter 4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, you will only be "caught" using countermeasures if you admit to using them.

Section VI, "Did I Pass or Fail," addresses the question, "Why is it so hard to get a straight answer from a polygraph examiner about whether or not you passed or failed?" Dean dances around this question, but notes that one reason is that a person who "passes" the test may nonetheless have made disqualifying admissions. She concludes this subsection stating:


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So what do you need to know before leaving? You need to know whether the examiner observed any DECEPTIVE REACTIONS (or just "reactions") to any of the questions. In most situations, the examiner can not tell you whether or not the admissions you made are disqualifying.

I suspect that it would be counterproductive to ask one's polygrapher, "Did you observe any deceptive reactions?" The presence or absence of a post-test interrogation is a good indication of whether the polygrapher observed what he/she thought were "deceptive reactions."

Section VII, "What Can I Do if I 'Fail' the Test," suggests looking into different departments if you made disqualifying admissions, and requesting an issue-specific polygraph if "you failed the test because you had 'deceptive reactions.'"

Section VIII, "A Few Words of Advice" provides admonishments to be truthful, summing it all up with "INTEGRITY AND CREDIBILITY are the most important characteristics established during the polygraph exam. These characteristics are practically irreplaceable. Once you compromise your integrity, it is near impossible to gain it back." The polygraph community would do well to take this advice to heart.

Section IX, "Non Police [sic] Officer Applicants" lets readers who are applying for jobs as dispatchers, firefighters, or security guards know that the polygraph procedure for them will be similar to that for law enforcement applicants.

Section X, "How Does All This Apply if I'm to Take a Voice Stress Analysis? [sic]" notes, "Polygraph measures physiological responses. Certain responses or patterns of responses have been identified as being indicative of deception. A VSA, as the name implies, measures STRESS. Therefore, in a VSA test nervousness CAN BE A FACTOR. This is one of the major drawbacks to this technology. If you have any problems with a VSA test, demand a polygraph test."

Here again, Dean repeats the untruth that nervousness cannot affect the outcome of a polygraph "test." It can, and both polygraphy and voice stress analysis are unsupported by peer-reviewed scientific research. Nonetheless, Dean's advice of demanding a polygraph "test" if you have any problems with a (C)VSA "test" is not without merit. Effective countermeasures for polygraph "tests" exist (see Chapter 4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector), but as far as I know, no reliable countermeasures for CVSA "tests" have been identified.

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