This is a great post.   I followed this post but added using my apple watch to monitor my heart beat when practicing my visualizations and responding to my mock polygraph recording of questions.   Worked perfectly.

You can also practice countermeasures of biting your tongue by when you answer the no questions you can already have your tongue in place on your teeth so they can't see you move your tongue or bite down.

Hello. Quick question. When you had to answer no to the card you had picked, in your mind did you see the scary image or the soothing one

I have a fidelity test the beginning of next week (no way around it. I was wondering with doing these steps and taking hydrocodone will that give me a greater chance of passing. Yes I will have to lie on one question

Quote:


We address this topic at pp. 149-150 of the 4th edition of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.

I would refer you again to my earlier reply to you. The reply you see from quickfix is an indication of the attitude you may expect from a typical polygraph operator.

try shoving a wine cork up your ass.

How does one get around the anal clenching when there is a pad on the chair to detect said countermeasure?

Of course you have the option of saying "no" to the polygraph. You should exercise it. Polygraphy is a pseudoscientific fraud that depends on the operator lying to and deceiving the person being "tested." No one should allow him- or herself to be coerced into submitting to it.

In answer to your question, "probably not." The key to passing a polygraph "test" is to exhibit stronger reactions to the "control" questions than to the relevant questions. There is little basis for the expectation that simply remaining as calm as possible will produce such an outcome.

I am scheduled to take a "voluntary" polygraph on Monday, Oct 29.  I really don't have an option to say no. I did betray my spouse and on Sunday, we are to have the "full disclosure" with the therapist.  There will be a few additions to the formal disclosure that my husband did not know about but there are still some things I will keep to myself. Period.  
Now, I have studied and studied for over a year about passing this pg and have decided I will make an absolute mess of trying to use countermeasures. 
My husband discussed his questions for the pg with the therapist, who promised to email them to me. However, she now says she misspoke (gas lighting anyone?) and I will get the questions AFTER the formal disclosure.  Which will be about 20 hours before the polygraph. So, no time to prepare well for them. 
I feel caught in a game of "gotcha".  
My question:  In your opinion, can I pass the pg by remaining as calm as possible, using peaceful mental imagery/prayer, etc. and trying to remember that I am a pawn in a gotcha game?
All advice and tips are welcome!

For those who face an infidelity test - good article by a psychologist, 2014, who argues they (and sex offense pg's) are invalid for a variety of reasons.  Useful if you take and fail one, or you need to argue against taking one.   

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/women-who-stray/201608/the-sexual-lie-de...

My therapist concurs with it.

What I found with my infidelity test was that my heart bpm was elevated due to the questions/topic and implications (always in the back of your mind), if you fail.  I trained to block out the heightened state/implications through knowing that the box measures nothing but my bodily data (not lies), but it is hard to be completely calm with such a test especially if you need to lie. Though of course since the box is invalid, you can lie with impunity if you can control yourself and spike the directed-lie control questions.

Would suggest that anyone taking the infidelity test really understand directed-lie control questions and how to spike them on the little box.  Probably this is what you will face.    

Hi Beat,
Good advice.
I only admitted to a few items - in the context of framing the relevant questions. IE. the question if I had sex with the dog, is due to the dog riding my leg one day etc.... I hid a lot - especially around the question to which I had to lie.  He asked 4-5 times quite insistently, that I disclose any and all info related to the questions since his magic box would pick it up. I refused, though I had quite a few skeletons in the closet. 

But I agree - no admissions is the best idea, or in my case, because I had to answer 3-4 specific charges - some contextual explanation was in order, but no admissions.

I should note that at the end he asked me 'how was that for you?' - not sure if that is a standard question.  So I offered that the control questions (the ones where you must lie according to his directive); were the hardest and made me struggle.  I did not mention the relevant questions.   

To the other chap, I am not a bot, just another asshole found digitally cheating on his wife.  A lowlife.  Thankfully nothing in person, and it was not porn related. I don't and never will watch porn.

Chill.

Good stuff, I LIED and passed an FBI pre-employment polygraph with the help of this site. However, after my polygraph research and first-hand experiences, I could teach someone to pass a poly with just an hour to prep.  All those steps you took are unnecessary.  First, I would refuse any polygraph for infidelity, a criminal investigation, or other reasons.  The only reason to take one is for a job you really want so bad so you have to take it or they will not hire you, like CIA/FBI/NSA/DOD jobs.   

I would inform the person that they WILL be interrogated, accused of lying and hiding information, and to expect to be grilled over and over again.  Yes, mental countermeasures work best on the control questions, and on different sets of irrelevant questions per the type of poly you are given.  Don't make any admissions, not even small ones. Understand that you will not be asked anything specific on a pre-employment poly.   The pre-employment questions are vague such as "did you commit a serious crime" in hopes you will open the door yourself and talk about some of the "small" crimes you did such as stealing candy, so that the polygrapher can drill in on those areas in hopes you admit to something disqualifying like stealing money  from your employer or cheating taxes.  However, if you are worried about specific questions about bad things you have done, like maybe cheating on your spouse with a underage transvestite hooker, just ask them to yourself over and over as a mental countermeasure to spike your controlled questions responses or your selected irrelevant question responses.   

One a person understands and is ready for the polygraph interrogation, knows they will be grilled, and do not confess to anything, they are in much better shape to pass.  The polygraph secret is that the goal of the polygraphers is to get information from the examinee/victim that they never would have found out about in the first place.  So keep your mouth shut.  This is how I passed.  I hid all my dirt from the FBI.  This is not a catholic confession, no need to spill your guts on every bad thing you have done. 

ROTFLMAO!

Very convincingly written, but nevertheless a stunning exercise in mental masturbation.

Total horseshit, IMHO.

Most assuredly a troll.

Nice try, though.

A long note, it may help some. 

Thanks to this website.  Life saver.  I am real, not a bot, had an infidelity test recently.  Quite stressful.  I had 3 relevant questions, 1 was simply irrelevant or not true (that is good); 1 was 50/50; and 1 had to lie. 

I passed and here is what I did.  I had 1 week to prepare (which was the big key – a lot of preparation). 

To pass – before test day: 
•      Make the questions that your spouse needs answered together, or agree on what the 3 or 4 questions will reference – do not – repeat do not – go into any test blind and ignorant as to what is being tested. 

•      You need about one week to get ready, but you will spend hours on it each day, so schedule your time.   One week of prep seemed perfect – I could peak but not burn out from preparation. 

•      Read this website and TLBTLD chapters 3 and 4 many times; along with Doug Williams’ How to Sting the Polygraph. 
 
•      Understand you are studying to pass an exam, an interview, a character assessment.  Be prepared. 

•      Understand that the PG is just a coin flip, but the more you know, the more you practice, the more you control and the greater the chance of winning. 

•      Read the comments section in this website, view Youtube videos on how a PG test is conducted, read about the steps and the different types of questions.

•      Make notes from the above.  Add in sample test questions – maybe 2 – that you can find here, or in Doug William’s book. 

•      Make your own narrative around your own story – and believe it.  Part of this will be discussed with the examiner and you better get your dirty laundry organised beforehand.  Add your narrative to your notes.  Read your notes including narrative and have them memorized – at least the key points.  Print it off, read it often.  My notes and narrative, including test questions, was 4 pages. These notes need to be done by day 3 of your preparation. You can of course add to them as you keep preparing.  But always review and memorise the key points.  

•      Include in your notes very clear descriptions of mental imagery for both relevant (the soothing image), and control questions (the scary image).  Practice them in a relaxed state.  Call them, feel them, feel the difference in your body. Practice relaxed, almost sleep-like breathing, with every cycle of in and out being roughly 3-4 seconds for the soothing image, and 5 seconds after calling the scary image.  Nice and slow, good rhythm. 

•      I did not use behavioural, tack in the shoe, bite my lip, flex my sphincter tactics.  I used only mental imagery which the examiner cannot detect.  Note that the chair had a pad on it, so I could not flex the rectum muscle.  I had read that most PGs now use such a pad to detect counter measures. 

•      Pull out your phone, record the test questions with 20 sec separation and practice answering them, while breathing and using your soothing mental imagery for relevant questions, and scary mental imagery for control.  Get the breathing and imagery down.  This will take you about 30 tries to get comfortable with and a lot more to make 2nd nature. 

•      Note that it is a very good technique to substitute a question that is 50/50 or you have to lie about with another question. For instance, as soon as I knew the question was about having sex with the orange tree next door (of which I was guilty), I simply replaced that in my mind with ‘is there a horse in the room’ and then answered truthfully ‘no’.  I would then immediately go to my soothing image and breathing patterns.  You are answering the substitute question honestly.  There is no way that the machine can read that. 

•      Buy a $150 home LD and practice the tests on it.  This is absolutely a must.  You probably will have a greater chance of success if you practice 3 hours or more on the machine.  Some good ones exist that are fairly accurate as far as the PG voodoo goes.  I practiced the day before and day of the exam with the LD.  It gave me invaluable feedback on questions where I was weak or even failed.  I then had to concentrate, or improve either my imagery, or my story.  Not saying they mean much in reality.  For example, I made up questions where I had to lie and I passed – by using my plans and techniques.  Was good training. 

•      Practice about 4-8 hours on the LD – mix up the questions around the topic a little bit.  The examiner will take the questions you agreed on and he may change them slightly.  


Test-day: 
•      Schedule the test in the afternoon so you can practice in the morning.  Take work off if you must.  It is game day. 

•      Get your mind into the game, go over your notes, memorize your plan, understand that the PG is not accurate and not useful and that you control the test, and you control your replies and answers.

•      Make sure you memorize the reaction to the relevant questions, and can move quickly into the calm, almost stupor-like after answering the question. 

•      Pray and meditate and get in control.

•      Dress nicely, smart business, get there early.  Be a professional.  

•      Meet the instructor, be polite, humble, professional, know that he is there to make you confess, be friendly, but know you are in the control and that his little box is crap. 

•      He will lecture you on the efficacy and accuracy of the box – don’t believe him.  

•      Know that your heart and pulse will be much higher – naturally – than practicing at home.  Mine was.  In fact I was surprised.  My resting heart rate is 40-42 it was probably mid 60s there.  Explain to the examiner that you feel somewhat uncomfortable and nervous, especially with a stranger in a small testing about this sensitive topic.  My examiner said he fully understood how hard it was.  This little rapport will help you with the final report.  

•      Look him the eyes when you talk, or at the bridge of his nose. 

•      He will first give you the 3 or 4 key relevant questions and ask if you agree.  He will ask you to explain some issues around them, for eg.  question 1 your wife needs to know is if you had sex with the neighbour’s dog in 2018.  You can say no, and explain to him that, that question arises from the dog humping your leg over easter though you did not respond and no intimacy occurred.  This slight admission goes a long way to proving you are not just a blind liar. It does not reveal too much, but shows you know why you are there. 

•      Format of the questions:
o      He will explain the format, it might differ;

      First, Irrelevant questions – is your name ? etc.

      Second, Mix of Relevant and Control

      For the Directed Lie Control Questions, he asked me to give the opposite answer for eg. did you ever lie in your life?  Answer is yes, but he wants you to say no. there were 3-4 of these.  I made good use of these. 

      He will go over every question and ask you if you understand.  He will reiterate many times that anything ‘you hold back’ or don’t disclose will show up in his little box.  ‘Do you need to disclose anything’ he will say 4 or 5 times.  Don’t believe him, don’t disclose beyond the little that you admitted in the pre-test, pre-tubes part of the process, when he went over the relevant questions and asked you what your response would be.  In that phase you can make clarifications, give a background (quickly) and put things in context (quickly).  If you have prepared you don’t need to disclose much at all but you need to do the aforementioned since in reality, that is what a truthful person would do.  Clarify, not hide.  

      My examiner said the pre-test and interview around the relevant questions was ‘short and sweet’ – so it should be.  When you disclose come across as professional, honest, forthcoming, look him the eye, I looked at the bridge of his nose. 


Testing:
o      He will hook you up and then ask the stimulation test question – in my case pick a number between 1-5, tell him the #, then say no each time he asks you if you picked #1, 2, etc including saying no to the # you picked.

      Show no reaction and answer honestly in a monotone. He is baselining you which is okay. 

o      Real test – he starts off with some Irrelevant questions than goes into the Relevant and Control questions – he goes through 3 rounds of them.  He will tighten your arm cuff, then start.  Note that as soon as you are tied up with the tubes and wires, the game is on, and you should be breathing in your pre-planned sleep-like pattern. 

o      Irrelevant questions – show no reaction, breathe, and be in your safe soothing mental image.  Irrelevant are things like what is your name, is today Monday, are you Mexican etc. 

o      For every control question I used mental imagery of something dreadful attacking and eating me.  Control questions in this case, were the upside down questions – have you ever told a lie (No, scary image for 5 seconds, breathing interrupted, than back to my breathing and soothing image); have you ever stole something (repeat) etc.   I held the scary image for 5 seconds, it naturally interrupted my breathing cycle.  After 5 seconds I went over to the soothing mental image and my pre-planned breathing cycle.  

o      Note that you never move your body, hands or arms.  You are a statue.  

o      For every relevant question I answered No (or yes) very firmly and confidently and then went to my soothing mental image immediately after.  I already knew the questions and if needed had my substitute question ready. 

o      I did hear some vibrating noise at times from his machine between the questions.  No idea what that is, and I did not ask him.  I should of.  I just assume it was designed to scare me into thinking that his magic box had discovered a lie or something I was hiding. 

o      For the entire time I stared at one place on the wall, and tried to calm down and become somnabulic and meditative.  Even when I had to lie, I had little to no reaction, since I had preplanned in my mind the substitute question, had my breathing down, and was immediately in my safe soothing mental image.  


Post test:
Mine was short – there was no post test interrogation.  In fact he felt sorry for me.  Told me that was not easy to do.  I acted a little and teared up saying I was ashamed to be there, and that it proved I was hurting someone and I wasn’t a bad person, but had an addiction.  Watery eyes, humble, a vision of pity.  He confided that the wife said to him that I had an addiction and knew I was trying to overcome it.  This rapport in my opinion, helped with a positive outcome as well. Don’t mistake it for him caring – he doesn’t.  But if he believes you are answering honestly and trying that certainly won’t hurt you in the final report.  The human touch can work. 

Final report takes 1 day to make.  Will see basically 3 marks – truth, lying, Undetermined.  You want the first and last.  Make sure you spike the control questions – at the very least makes it undetermined which is good enough.  I had truth on the 3 relevant (or not lying), and spiked the controls enough to pass.  

Even when I lied I am sure there were spiked reactions, but lower than most of the control questions – so it confuses them. 

Note that you will feel naturally stressed – your heart rate during the process will be higher than normal.  However, that does not mean you will fail.  It simply raises the baseline of your readings.  The key is to spike those control questions, and get even your lies on the relevant questions below those spikes toward the normal baseline.  Do that and you should pass.   Breathe, try to remain calm, use that mental image to soothe you.  Focus on the wall.  Get meditative. 

My test was short – 1 hour – which is usually a good sign. 

I was stressed most of the night after the test truth be told.  
Humbled as well.  This is probably a normal reaction to an event that was very stressful and involved a lot of planning and preparation.  Probably more than 30 hours went into getting ready I would guess. 

If any of the above is useful please use.   I am not a troll, not a PG professional, just another asshole who committed online infidelity.  Never again.  Screw this. Thanks to the website. Life saver.  Remember the PG is just a dumb box reading your signals.  You control what you feed it.