R22R134A wrote on Oct 20^th, 2007 at 5:36am:


Any question about petty theft from a past employer is a "probable-lie control question." Despite the polygarpher's insistence that all questions must be answered truthfully, and that the examinee should divulge all because the slightest doubt will show up on the charts, it is secretly expected that everyone will answer the probable-lie control questions deceptively, or at least have considerable doubt regarding whether one has been completely truthful. Thus, if asked whether you've ever taken anything from an employer, the appropriate (and expected) answer is "no."

See Chapter 3 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for more on polygraph procedure.

It should be noted that my reply to R22R134A is based on the assumption that the question about taking anything from past employers concerns petty theft. There is nothing unethical about withholding information relevant to this probable-lie "control" question (in fulfillment of examiner expectations). Making unnecessary admissions to such a "control" question may make a false positive outcome more likely to the extent that it results in the examinee feeling less anxiety when answering.

On the other hand, a question about major theft from an employer (for example, did you ever take anything worth more than $400 from a previous employer) is not a probable-lie control question, but rather a relevant question, and I believe that applicants for positions of public trust have an ethical obligation to answer such questions truthfully.

Wonder_Woman wrote on Oct 20^th, 2007 at 5:03pm:

With all due respect, it seems rather insincere when you are only civil to people if you agree with them.