I failed a polygraph in an eastern state (state agency) about 10 months ago. I will be taking another poly here soon, this time in western state (AZ). I have to tell them if I have done one before, do they share information like this with one another being that far away?

Is there a list of LEO pre-employment questions  ???

i wrote earlier about not passing a poly (in this column), part of the reason was becuase i was worried about it and told them EVERYTHING, even things God probably didnt already know. Now i am not so paranoid about taking it again this time. Becuase of this, some of my answers will be different on the poly than the first one, will this matter. (will they question my truthfulness)

well thank you all for you advise much appreciated. I just have one question left to answer. /well a couple more questions 

the tongue bitting

1. how effective is that method?

2. how to know if you are applying it correctly?

3. where to bite down on?

4. do you apply any other techniques to this method or just strickly bite the tongue?

I have well prepared myself for polygraphs, i am more confident in not becoming a false positive. Thank you for this book, used for the right reasons it can be a benifical tool. much appreciated.

calicoast,

1) In a laboratory study by Charles R. Honts and collaborators, about half of test subjects who employed tongue-biting after receiving a maximum of 30 minutes of instruction passed the polygraph when falsely denying having committed a mock crime. Polygraphers were unable to detect the countermeasure. See the bibliography of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for a citation.

2) The tongue bite should be hard enough to produce pain, but not so hard as to cause injury. Additionally, it should not be visible to the polygrapher. You can practice in front of a mirror to see if it's detectable.

3) To minimize jaw movement, it might be easier to bite down on the side of your tongue rather than on the tip.

4) You may add a breathing manipulation to the tongue-biting. However, it's possible that biting your tongue will result in an associated change in your breathing without your having to actively think about it.

So what happened, Calicoast?  Did you take the poly yet?  It's been weeks since you were supposed to take it.  We're all in suspense here.  If you felt the need to use countermeasures on your first poly, which questions did you actually lie to?  These bearers of gloom and doom have apparently gotten to you so you felt you must mess with the polygraph exam to pass, so there must be some serious skeletons rattling around in your closet that you wanted to hide.

If you did well, you would have been on here to gloat and brag, I'm sure.  If you passed, you, George and Company would be on here claiming that the countermeasures you planned on using worked.  And of course if you failed, George and Company would be telling you that you just did it all wrong.  After all, they are exactly like the staunch pro-polygraph people--if the process didn't work, they say it was just done wrong, whereas if it appeared to work, they raise a big fuss over it like relatives of a mother who has just given birth.  All very amusing to me, you see.  So which is it, Calicoast?

Nunyun, you need to read some of my other posts if you really believe all that false positive b.s.

So, other than being totally freaked out by what he read on this site and what you told him, was there a relative issue that your friend needed to lie about and attempt to overcome through countermeasures?

See, here's the plain truth: If your friend had nothing to hide on the relevant issues, then chances are over 90% that he would pass, regardless of whether he used those silly countermeasures or not.   It's like taking a handful of vitamins when you already are getting a good diet--it does nothing for you exept maybe a placebo effect of some sort.  AND, if you aren't getting a decent diet, vitamins won't make up the difference.   Sounds to me like your friend was living on a decent diet of integrity and therefore passed the exam, which had nothing to do with his trying to use countermeasures that, even if they worked at all, would require much training on the machine to use effectively.

And no, I don't need to "get into it" with anyone.  After awhile I will tire of the tiring people on this site and I'll leave you all to continue dispensing your placebo to people who are unnecessarily worried about a process that really works.  I've provided some excellent field study research in other posts, and I'm tired of cutting and pasting it, so go look for it yourself.

Oh, and I'm not interesting in becoming a senior user.  Sounds like a geriatric addict.   

Nunyun, I acknowledge the relative merits of your last post when compared with some of your previous posts.  Thank you.  Of course I would never advocate using a polygraph as the sole determinant of assessing any job applicant.  It's a great tool, and highly effective, but it is not perfect.  I do think that you and many other fearful worriers concentrate too much on the very rare false positive in polygraph, though.  If you still have doubts about that, please refer to my post in response to very senior user Gino Scalabrini--I've now cut and paste it into several different threads on this forum, and I've grown weary of doing so.  It's got some great information.  If you feel too lazy to look for it, let me know, and I'll store up enough motivation to cut and paste it ONE MORE TIME.