Good day, all! I am currently in the recruiting process for a major police agency, and I have to go through the dreaded polygraph test as part of the process. Although I have nothing to hide, and I was completely honest and thorough in my disclosure forms that accompanied my application, I still have some well-founded fears (after reading/hearing about all the horror stories on this and other websites, and personal experiences from other hopefuls applying to the same agency.)

From all the information I have gathered from my contacts, they tell me the test is composed of the typical pre-test interview in which the examiner puts together a list of questions based on your disclosure form and what you tell him. He then hooks you up to the box, and does a test with either cards or numbers (maybe depending on his mood? ) to gauge your "responses" to his questions. After this is completed, he then tells you he is going to ask you a series of questions that he wants your to answer with "no". Once this is all over with, he tells you the 10 question series he is going to ask you (which I find odd) and that it will be in no particular order each successive time he asks it.. of course for an indefinite amount of time dependent on his discretion. 

So after all I've told you, my question is this: Being a nervous person, and a bit more apprehensive after reading some of the dialogue on this site, how much do I have to fear from this upcoming polygraph exam? I have only experimented with marijuana twice in high school (5 years ago now) and I fully disclosed this, and I have seen and heard that this will not have any negative bearing on my application, but what about the polygraph? Any recommendations as to how I should handle it? Maybe I am one of the naive for thinking I should be okay by telling the truth, but after hearing some real world experiences here and in my world.... I'm a bit on edge. 

Sorry for all the questions, but I figure if I arm myself with as much information as possible, the more prepared I can be for the worst. Much thanks!

cpswannabe wrote on Mar 10^th, 2003 at 6:36am:


That's what I would have thought as well. Knowledge is good, right.  Let me warn you that it is not the case as most polygraph exams use the so called probable lie comparison question test which assume you are unaware of the polygraph details to accomplish a critical part. The polygraph examiner will mislead you about some aspects of the process in order to better separate the deceptive and he can not easily do this once you know the "lie behind the lie detector"  If you decide up front not to use countermeasures but inform yourself by reading TLBTLD or other accurate, professional polygraph literature, you could well be more likely to fail a polygraph. Yes, it is a catch 22 but if you are absolutely certain you will not use countermeasures then you will gain knowledge at the risk of being more likely to fail and being another false positive. Keep in mind there is a significant risk of failing polygraphs even if you are honest, and uninformed about polygraph process, maybe higher than 1 in 4. (NAS Report). Absent countermeasures, it will be higher if you inform yourself about the process.

-Marty

cpswannabe wrote on Mar 11^th, 2003 at 3:04am:


Well, let's examine that. Since you now know what the purpose of a control question is, will you lie on it and fear that you will react and be seen as deceptive? Obviously not, since you are aware of that polygrapher duplicity, though what you choose to do, aside from CM's, is variable. It is unlikely, unless you choose CM's, that you will respond as much to the control question as you would if you did not understand it's purpose and lied on it with fear of detection. This means your likelyhood of being a false positive is higher.

What you might consider, if you choose not to use CM's is to tell the examiner when you get to a control question that you are familiar with their purpose and ask him how he wishes you to respond. I would bring info from a source such as the "Handbook of Polygraph Testing" where you might xerox a paragraph that describes the purpose and conditioning that occurs with the control question. While I think TLBTLD is high quality information, it IS likely to be irritating and an industry source might be less disturbing.

modified: -fixed erroneous quote-

-Marty

Fixed. Sorry about that, I typed an afterthought in the wrong location 

-Marty

cpswannabe,

You ask:

Quote:


You have a lot to fear. Polygraph "testing" has an inherent bias against the truthful, because the more candidly you answer the so-called "control" questions, and as a consequence feel less stress when answering them, the more likely you are to fail. With some agencies in the U.S. (like the LAPD and FBI), the polygraph failure rate is on the order of 50%.

In addition, failing a polygraph examination with a major police agency may hurt your chances of getting hired by other agencies.

Quote:


Your past drug use may well come in for closer scrutiny by your polygrapher during any post-test interrogation. You might wish to prepare in advance an innocuous explanation for any reaction you may show to any questions about drug use. (See Chapter 4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.)

Quote:


It is indeed naive to think that you should be okay simply by telling the truth in a polygraph "test": the "test" is based on the hidden assumption that the examinee will be less than truthful when answering the "control" questions. Moreover, the whole procedure has no scientific basis whatsoever, and results in many false positives.

I strongly disagree with Marty's suggestion that knowledge "is not good" with regard to polygraphy. Ignorance about this pseudoscience is no bliss. I suggest that you arm yourself with knowledge, as you mentioned in your first post. In The Lie Behind the Lie Detector you'll find a detailed explanation of the polygraph process, including measures you can take to protect yourself against the risk of a false positive outcome.

Marty,

Thank you for your clarification. However, I think it is not truly possible for a subject who is naive with regard to CQT procedure to make an a priori decision not to use countermeasures: the naive subject does not truly understand what countermeasures are.

In addition, while it may make intuitive sense that a truthful, informed subject (one who understands "the lie behind the lie detector") who does not employ countermeasures would be more likely to become a false positive, such is not necessarily the case. The informed subject who chooses not to employ countermeasures might nonetheless avoid such mistakes as volunteering every personally embarasssing thing he or she has ever done and engaging in the kinds of "body language" that many polygraphers believe to be indicative of deception.

This thread is BULLSHIT!

Cpswannabe is another of those poor souls who "happens" upon this site asking a perfectly innocent question about polygraph.  The old, "Golly gee, I want to be a policeman and I have to take a polygraph, I'm really, really scared, what should I do?" routine; and then suddenly, they come across like a friggin pro!

George, is this site so pathetic that you have to generate bogus postings like this one and Michelle to stimulate conversation?  If you're not putting these phoney postings out, then someone is.  I would suggest that who ever it is, they try and play the "I don't know nuthin" routine for at least five or six posts.

Cpswannabe (or who ever you are): Use the countermeasures bud, then be sure to report back about how successful you were.

Lets get back to slingin' mud at each other folks, at least that had a little bit of realism in it!

Batman

cpswannabe wrote on Mar 12^th, 2003 at 3:01am:


cpswannabe,
Don't worry about it -- random outbursts of that kind happen a lot around here.  It kind of goes with the territory, and you get used to it.  You didn't say anything wrong.

Best of luck.  It sounds like you have a pretty good handle on the process.

Skeptic