ycrad508  Take the money you set aside and spend it on marital/relationship  counseling.  In the vast maority of fidelity tests the accusing party has a strongly held belief in the infidelity of the accused. Your passing the test would not likely conviince your partner of your innocence and you will end up in counseling any way. That is if you wish to save your relationship.

Even though your partner may offer assurances that they will forget the accusation should you pass, that is usually not the case.

Even if you were able to somehow be successful in implementing  the virtually worthless countermeasures taught on this site to generate non-deceptive results, it is unlikely you will be believed.

This occurs partially due to the strength of personal opinions in fidelity issues and partially due to the existence of this web site which if she were to find out about it would cause her to have further doubts about your honesty. 

Thus if you are completely truthful about your fidelity and pass, which would be very likely. The existence of this web site allows her to accuse you of not only cheating on her, but cheating on the test as well.

Spend your money on a counselor.

Thank you very much for your help. I know that I have made a mistake by agreeing to take the test. I did so in the belief that it would prove innocence. I totally agree that any polygraph person probably assumes that I am guilty before the exam even begins. 
I will admit that I have flirted with other girls and there are reasons why my girlfriend is suspecious, she knows about it all though and I have confessed this to her. However I have not cheated and would never cheat on her as I love her so much.
I am afraid that my feeling guilty over the other stuff I have done will may cause me to fail the test even if I have not cheated.
We have been going out for 2 and a hald yrs and I know her well enough that if I pull out of the tes that she will take it as a sign of guilt. This is my fault as I have given her reason to be like this. I feel that my only option is to take the risk of taking the test an hoping that thte truth will save me?

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Then again, one may very well "react", without lying, or hiding anything!  As for "changing the question", it will still be a permutation of the original question, and his unconscious mind could register it as such.  So if the polygraph interrogator claims, and the person believes, that something is bothering them about the original question, he might still end up reacting to the new question, as changed.  It will still probably be along the same "line of questioning"!
 
Truth is, there can be many reasons behind a reaction as measured by the machine.  According to the National Academy of Sciences:

Almost a century of research in scientific psychology and physiology provides little basis for the expectation that a polygraph test could have extremely high accuracy. The physiological responses measured by the polygraph are not uniquely related to deception. That is, the responses measured by the polygraph do not all reflect a single underlying process: a variety of psychological and physiological processes, including some that can be consciously controlled, can affect polygraph measures and test results. Moreover, most polygraph testing procedures allow for uncontrolled variation in test administration (e.g., creation of the emotional climate, selecting questions) that can be expected to result in variations in accuracy and that limit the level of accuracy that can be consistently achieved.

Ycrad508,

It is a common polygraph examiner ploy to claim that the machine is indicating that something "must be bothering you", or that "you must be hiding something!", and so  you must disclose anything that it possibly could be no matter how "unimportant" it might be.  This an effort to get information out of you they might be able to use against you later, or at the very least to justify the "reaction".  IOW, so they can later say: "Well,  you may or may not be lying about having an affair, but there was definitely something bothering you!  You admitted such and such...etc."  Bullshit!  Don't fall for it if you take the test!  Realize they are just "fishing".  Just reiterate that your are telling the truth and nothing is bother you about YOUR ANSWER.

Seriously, read the "Lie behind the lie detector" http://www.antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf

It explains this and much more about the polygraph.  Read chapters 3 and 4 in particular.  You might even share this with your girl friend.

Good Luck!

I Quote:


It's a shame she would end your relationship based on the results of a pop cultural myth.

TC

Is she blonde?  Putting myself in your shoes my dicision would be - "hey girl, you're put more faith in an idiot box than you do me tells me that love here is not a two way street. SO KISS MY ASS. I'M MOVING ON WITH MY LIFE"

At least now you know that if you react on the machine, and when the examiner claims:  "Deception is indicated", or "the machine indicates you are still hiding something", that they are not making a scientifically valid statement.  You can call them out on it.  Tell the polygrapher you did a little research and know the machine simply measures physiologic data and not deception.  Further, you now know it is imperative you DO NOT DISCLOSE AND FURTHER INFORMATION, no matter how unimportant you may think it is, regarding the subject covered by the relevant questions.

It's bad enough to fail, worse yet, would be to fail and have given the so-called examiner info she can distort and blow out of proportion to justify the failed polygraph.

I still think it would be more revealing, and entertaining, if you went to see a psychic instead.  Work something out with the psychic ahead of time (pay her an extra shilling or two) and get her to claim your girlfriend has a lesbian lover on the side.  Then confront your soon to be ex-woman with the information.

If you're going to go out, go out with a BANG!

TC