Blueboy:  Here is a response I gave to someone with a similar question.  I believe this is a great clarification of how the test works.  You are missing the point that the control questions are also "probable-lie" questions as well.  They are probable-lie control questions.  You need to have a GREATER reaction to the probable lie control questions than to the relevants.  Read my response below for clarification:Hey trout....here is what I believe to be a clear explanation of how the examiners use/create control questions.  This was a response I gave to someone who didn't have to fill out a lifestyles form.  For you, the examiner (assuming it will be a probably lie control quetions test which most are) will create the controls from your resposes in your lifestyle form/verbal review of lifestyle form ( And yes, you want to distinguish the control questions when the examiner goes over the questions he or she will ask right before the test, and you want to use countermeasures on the control questions ONLY).

My prior posting:

If it is a probable-lie control questions test (most likely), here is an example of what they will do:

Pre-test interview:  The examiner will go through a number of questions with you to see if you make any admissions.  During the interview, they will mix up relevant questions and questions that he or she will turn into control questions during the test.  Examiners make the examinee think that the questions they are asking (that they will turn into control questions during the test) are as equally important as the relevant questions.  This is not the case.  The examiner is going to ask the question (that he or she will turn into a control question during the test) and hope that you make an admission, so that during the test, you will be required to respond by saying "no," when the fact is that nearly all people would be considered liars by saying no as a response  (what the examiner is doing is asking you particular questions during the pre-test interview so that he or she can CREATE control questions to use specifically on you during the test).

Here is an example:

Pre-test interview: (the examinee may go over some questions very similar to the ones below and fill out a report on your admissions and responses)

1)Ever used drugs? relevant

2)Ever do any very serious felony crime that went undetected? relevant

3)Have you ever lied to anyone of authority? 
Question number three is the trick.  This is a question (example) that the examinee will turn into a control question during the test.   

-the examiner will ask you "have you ever lied to anyone of 
authority?"
-you will say yes
-The examiner will say, "ok...who can you think of that was an authority figure that you lied to"  (Making you think that this is a totally serious question, while it is not).
-You will say "ohh...a parent and a teacher"
-the examiner will say, "can you think of anyone else?"
-you will say "no"
{The fact is that most people have lied to a number of individuals of authority over their lifetime, and the examiner knows this and expects that you have lied to many people!}
-Next (this is important), during the test the examiner will ask you to respond to all questions with a yes or no.  You already told the examiner you can't think of anyone else you have lied to, so they expect you to say "no" to the idea of lying to anyone else.   
-The examiner will REWORD THE QUESTION ON YOU during the test by asking, "OTHER THAN WHAT YOU TOLD ME, is there anyone else of authority that you have lied to?"
-You are expected to say "no," and then obviously doubt your answer because most people aren't able to think of all the people they have lied to in their lifetimes.  This is the trick of the examiner to see what your physiological responses are like when you are doubting yourself and feeling anxiety, as you will question in your mind if your parents and teacher are the only ones you lied to.  This is WHAT THE EXAMINER WANTS!
They could care less if you lied to someone else (unless you stop in the middle of the test and say "I must confess...I'm a spy and have been deceptive toward the FBI for 10 years now"...lol).   
-Above is an example of how they will use a question during the pretest interview to get you to make admssions ONLY SO THAT THEY CAN TURN IT INTO A CONTROL QUESTION ON YOU.

More examples:
Question during the pretest interview:
"Have you ever stole anything before the age of 18?"
You say
"Yes"
They say
"Who"
You say
"A magazine, deck of cards..."
They say
"Is that it?"
You say
"Yes"
The examiner will then ask you during the test,
"OTHER THAN WHAT YOU TOLD ME, did you steal ANYTHING ELSE before the age of 18?"
***Again, the examiner expects all people to doubt themselves when responding by saying "no."  Again, the examiner expects an anxiety reaction to this control question.  And again, the examiner expects that ALL PEOPLE will doubt themselves when responding by saying "no."

It will be TO YOUR BENEFIT DURING THE pretest interview 
to make (MINOR MINOR MINOR!!!) admissions to these types of questions that will be turned into control questions during the test.  IT will benefit you in the sense that you will have a clear idea of what will be the control questions (because it will be clear that the question can be turned around on you and because it is not a serious question...VERY BROAD and VERY MINOR in severity).


Another question that may be turned into a control question:
Ever drove under influence?
You say yes
They ask how many times
You say ohh...a few
They say, can you think of any other times?
You say no
During the test:  "Have you ever drove under the influence any other times other than what you told me?"
Again, same rules apply...The examiner expects that all people who admit to drinking have drove A LOT while buzzing.  Again,  they expect an anxiety reaction because you will doubt yourself when you say "no" during the test.

This is the GAME polgraphers play. Pretty funny that they are the ones lying for sure during the test....

Advice: Listen carefully to the questions being asked during 
a polygraph test pre-test interview.  If they are very general questions (seem like questions that most people could respond to with a number of responses) and cover a long span of time, and if they seem like questions that can very easily be turned around on you as well, then you will be able to easily detect what will be the control questions.   It will be easier during the test than you think.  I wouldn't sweat about it or lose sleep at all.  Just think during the interview, "does this question really make me that bad of a person?  Don't most people do this particular act a NUMBER Of times in their life (lying to people, for example).

What the examiner will then do after you take off is look at the  chart and see if your responses to the control questions 
(called "PROBABLE LIE CONTROL QUESTIONS" because, as  I said,the examiner expects all to be lying when saying no to the questions turned around on them) are stronger or weaker than the responses to the relevant.  They figure if the person responded so strongly to the controls, but didn't respond much at all to the relevants, they are telling the truth.   If the responses to the controls are weaker than responses to the relevant, then they are lying.  (They base this on the idea that you are probably lying on the control questions by saying no, or atleast doubting yourself, and they expect a reaction from you that shows what you are like/how your body responds to anxiety.  If the anxiety to the controls is stronger than relevant, the relevant didn't bother you then and you must be telling the truth.  If your anxiety was less on controls than on the relevant, then you must be lying. 

They are comparing your responses to the relevants to the responses to the control, and they expect that you were feeling like a liar on the controls.  I suggest you re-read THE LIE BEHIND THE LIE DETECTOR until these ideas are clear in your mind. 

Hope this helped.

PS.  As far as countermeasures, I don't really know what to tell you other than using them on ONLY the control questions during the test.  I just took a test about a week and a half ago and used the tac in the shoe trick (don't do it...I practiced until it was unnoticable) on the controls, but haven't gotton the results back yet.  I would suggest, from all the reading I have done, that You tighten the anal pucker during the controls (totally easy to hide and unobvious) and take a slight pause in breath after responding "no."  I talked to an examiner that said pausing in breath after a question is a sure sign of deception, and I know for a fact that the anal pucker affects GSR (Sweating/electrical activity and bloodpresssure/heartrate).  That is the tactic I am going to use next time around if the tac in the shoe didn't come through for me.

SIncerely, Netnin 
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Trout:
Remember, Control questions are questions that nearly all the people in the world could make admissions to:  petty shoplifting/taking things from work, lying to authority figures,
driving after a few beers. They are broad questions and cover a large span of time.


Relevant are SERIOUS IN NATURE.  They are issues that, if you admit to them, will get you disqualified automatically:
Rape, Being in a notorious gang, doing felony crimes that didnt get caught for, etc.


ONE NOTE:  DONT ADMIT TO STEALING ANY MONEY FROM WORK.  THis comes off as being a control question/seem like one, but it IS NOT A CONTROL QUESTION!  They regard stealing money a serious and relevant issue.

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As far as you admissions in your lifestyle evaluation,
Don't admit to ANYTHING SERIOUS.  You will be canned or disqualified.

As far as drugs, if you did them, don't tell them you did any hard drugs more than just trying them once, and tell them the last time was 3 years ago.  If marijuana, tell them you experimented in highschool, did a dozen times. If you want, you could deny use of drugs totally, but it could become a relevant question.

Drinking, tell them you occassionally have a few beers here and there, or maybe a glass of wine on the weekens sometime with family.  They don't want potenial alchololics because of the job stress.

Stealing, tell them you took a pack of gum from work, or a couple items that totalled 10$.

(Don't make any damaging admissions that will hurt you.  Keep numbers REAL LOW if you did certain things liike weed, stealing, etc.  If you didn't do certain things, dont admit to anything or make any admissions at all. )


Netnin

Thank you so much for excellent explanation. I will
re-read The Lie Behind Lie Detector again until I understand
completely. My another curiosities are: 
Is it possible that Poly can consists of only relevant questions?
If so, how they compare physiological responses to decide
answer is deceptive or not? And when to deploy c/m to
those relevant questions?
I know my questions are primitive but your answer would be
appreciated.

Note the seriousness of the question, I would think it's more of a relevant question, therefore, you do not want to squeeze you anal walls on this the questions you want to employ countermeasures on are the control questions eg have you ever lied to anyone, have you stolen anything.

I just thought about it George, yeah you're absolutely correct that is a control question, my mind was somewhere else, you said it basically the task at hand is to employ higher responses for control questions than relevant questions.

J.B.,

You wrote in part:
Quote:

That's not necessarily the case. Many truthful persons are falsely accused of deception as a result of pre-employment polygraph "tests." Indeed, the more honestly the truthful applicant answers the "control" questions, and as a consequence feels less stress when answering them, the more likely he/she is to fail.

Law enforcement applicants will pass their polygraph "tests" if their physiological reactions while answering the "control" questions are stronger than their physiological reactions when answering the relevant questions. This has no necessary relationship with whether the applicant has done anything that would disqualify him/her from the process (or is telling the truth).

George & Gino,

First of all, my point in the last post to therock, not to everyone in general, was to not over complicate the process.  He has read about the basics of polygraph but gathering from his posts he is reading to far into the questions.   

Second, the object of a background investigation is to find if a person has any traits and/or committed any acts that will possibly or do make them a problem.  He should know what these are.   

Third, If he overly reads into the questions, he may confuse what is and is not relevant to him.  I am presuming that most everyone can recall a time when they have overly complicated something and what the end result was.   

Finally, by him considering the information that the investigation is concerned about at face value only and not micro managing his thought process, therock will help himself to focus and know that he is truthfully answering those questions.  A truthful/honest person should answer all the other questions at their own comfort level.  Although they are relevant to the honest person, because most are going to lie, they are not relevant to the hiring agency.