Someone:

If you lie during the exam I hope you fail and you probably will,  especially if you listen to underminingtruth. He posted here a few times and thinks that qualifies him to give out advise about polygraphy.

retcopper wrote on Jun 6^th, 2006 at 5:33pm:


I may be new to posting, but I have been reading this site for a long time.  I have taken over 15 polygraphs with various results over the past 10 years.  Once I started using CMs, I have passed every one of them.

Please tell me, Rectumtopper, who do YOU think is qualified to give advice about taking a polygraph?  Someone who has successfully fooled the machine repeatedly, or someone who likes to lie about its workings, their expertise, and lacks an attention to detail?

I've never advocated lying, that's a polygraphers job, because you know good and well that if someone is 100% truthful, you'll manipulate them into lying about the control questions.  

underminingtruth:

Gee.  I was going to  call you Tom Terrifc but my post went over your  head but George got it.   

By the way what do you do for a living? Take polygrah exams? You say you have taken so many I don't see how u have time for anyyhing else.

retcopper wrote on Jun 6^th, 2006 at 10:03pm:


Rectumtopper:

You have an awful lot of posts, but I never read one where you actually contribute a thoughtful rebutle.  You know only how to attack and insult people.

I want to extend someone's (the poster ) question to a slightly more advanced level:

I have taken follygraphs, er, polygraphs before.  I endeavour to tell the truth- not out of some loyalty to the interrogator, but just because I feel it makes me better than he and HIS lies are.  This includes answering the CQ's honestly, both pre-test and in-test.

Scenario: he reviews the CQ's with you pre-test: lied to your mother, driven drunk, taken something from the office, etc.  You 'fess up to everything with a general response:

"Yes, sure, I have done that.  Everyone has, I guess."  You keep it open-ended, as open as the interrogator does, and continue to do so as he tries to confine your responses.

"How many times did you lie to your mother?" "A fair number of times." "More than 10 (20, 50, 75) times?" "If you count every white lie, probably >100 times. I dunno, but a bunch." And so on.

Question: if you "just say yes" to all the CQ's, admit to all the trite little peccadilloes, would that not in the end foul up the polygrapher?  Even if he's really looking at the CQ's juxtaposed to the relevants for levels of BFB, isn't that going to give him pause based on (1) your obviously abnormal response pattern and (2) your unfailing candidness?  Which leads to...

Question 2: What if you employed CM's- say, mental math- while answering these CQ's honestly?  I have never seen this scenario discussed on here, and I would like to very much.

The conclusion I reach is that if you did as in #2, you'd create a situation where you would be admitting to that which the polygrapher expects and wants you to lie about... which everyone has supposedly done... and setting the machine off (as in a lie) in your truthful admissions thereto.  Would the polygrapher be confounded, think that he has someone with a confidence problem in the chair who otherwise is Christ-pure, what?

I picture myself as the interrogator, thinking:

"Dang, this guy is admitting to every venial sin I throw at him, even to leaving skid marks in his drawers    I can't pin him down.  And yet this machine is saying he's lying, that he never did any of these things [aside: that's the effects of the CM's].  His R traces are relatively normal... wow.  I guess he passes; his CQ traces -are- of greater amplitude... but I have walking anti-matter here."

I know you want to get a greater response to the CQ's; is this, the idea I have posited, just another, novel way to do so?

George and the other vets, your comments are welcome and requested...

That IS quite interesting.  I never would have thought to combine those two ideas.
I once tried answering yes to all the CQ's... we went round and round for nearly two hours until (in frustration) the polygrapher told me that if I couldn't think of anymore specific examples (so that he could say "other than what you told me") then I had to answer "No."   
During the test, I changed my answer to "yes" again.     He was VERY upset with me.    I explained that I thought of another example.    He said I was being uncooperative and if I changed my answer again, we'd just have to continue another day - at my expense  - after I had time to think about all my examples.  ???

We've had a few discussions about being overly honest on the CQ's, but I couldn't find any discussion about blatantly lying on CQ's.  I wonder how the results would be affected if someone went as far as to make up stories (about lying to your mother or whatever the CQ might be).  Would that be an effective CM?