Just found this at the local tech bookstore. Also found a rather interesting book on Interviews and Interrogations which has a rather specific focus on forensic use of the polygraph rather than the more academic, broad view that Kleiner's book (Academic Press, 2002) has.

Fascinating stuff, both.  As background I am an engineer (EE) that just loves understanding things.

BTW, Gordon Barland is mentioned frequently in the first book.

Anyone read the book?

-Marty

Yes, it's "Effective Interviewing & Interrogation Techniques" by Gordon and Fleisher.  Also Academic Press, 2002.

The context (forensics) skews things somewhat but the insights and techniques could be widely applicable (say to HR) and is fascinating. The overlap with the polygraph provides another side and perspective into ways these things can go wrong - as well as how they can work.

I must say that my take so far is that your "The Lie Behind the Lie Detector" is quite accurate as regards the CQT especially since finding something that the examinee is expected to lie about - and feel guilty about - is a critical part of the test.

Oh, yes. There is also a short chapter in the first book on countermeasures - and counter-countermeasures along with dismay that essentially all work (therefore funding) in the last decade on CM's has been classified.

Possibly the biggest false positives come from more honest than average people entering LE.

Areas where it seems to have more substantive backing and research is in the so called "guilty knowledge" testing.  Of course this isn't as applicable to screening but is far better than the CQT. The use of CQT in forensic situations is very dubious.  One of the comments in that book is that it is fairly easy to find control questions for suspects given the general backgrounds that are encountered. I guess it has some validity from a Baynsian POV. Still, for the poor SOB that is innocent and honest, and gets screwed on the CQ - God help him.

-Marty