You need to understand that polygraph "testing" has no scientific basis. It is a fraudulent procedure that depends not on science, but on trickery, as it entails the polygraph operator lying to and otherwise deceiving the person being "tested."

While the polygraph operator you hired will have told you that all questions must be answered truthfully, and that any hint of doubt or deception will be detected by his highly sensitive polygraph instrument, he will have secretly assumed that your answers to certain questions, called "control" questions, were less than truthful.

Your reactions to the question, "Since July have you had any sexual encounter with any other woman other than your partner?" will have been compared to your reactions to a question like, "Have you ever deliberately lied to someone who loved and trusted you?" You will have been steered into a denial regarding this latter question, perhaps with a warning that the kind of person who would lie to someone who loved and trusted them is the same kind of person who would cheat on a partner and then lie about it. If you made admissions to having lied, after a sermon about honesty, the question would have been rephrased to something like, "Other than what you told me, did you ever deliberately lie to someone who loved and trusted you?" Your denial at this point is still assumed to be a lie, or at best an answer about which you cannot be completely certain and which should cause a reaction.

If the relevant question about infidelity causes you to breath more erratically, to sweat more profusely, or causes your heart rate and blood pressure to change more so than does the "control" question about lying to someone who trusted you, then you fail. Conversely, if you show stronger reactions to the question about lying to someone who loved and trusted you, then you pass.

The procedure also includes irrelevant questions such as "Are the lights on in this room?" The polygrapher falsely explains that these questions provide a baseline for truth, as the true answer is obvious. (The polygrapher may have also falsely described these questions as "control" questions.) But in fact, such irrelevant questions are not scored, and they merely serve as "buffers" between pairs of relevant and "control" questions.

As I mentioned before, this simplistic procedure has no scientific basis, and to make matters worse, it's inherently biased against the truthful. Think about it: the more honestly one answers the control questions, and as a result feels less anxiety when answering them, the more likely one is to fail!

For a thorough debunking of polygraphy, and a more detailed explanation of polygraph procedure, see our e-book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (1 mb PDF).

I think that rather than throwing good money after bad for another séance with a polygraph chartgazer, you'd be better off educating yourself (and your girlfriend) about polygraphy. See the statement of Gary Smith for an example of the harm that misplaced faith in the pseudoscience of polygraphy has caused to couples' relationships:

https://antipolygraph.org/statements/statement-028.pdf

Thanks for the responses! If you could only imagine my state of mind right now. I never in a million years thought I would have to take a polygraph. My stupid actions made this a reality... I never in a billion years thought a polygraph could falsely accuse me of something I didn't do. I walked into that place so confident, believing in the polygraph system (though my research was minimal) 

I wish now I had done more research, but in the same sentence if one were to refuse a polygraph, unfortunately society would look at them with guilt. Even myself would have looked at them with guilt, if I ever saw a court case to where a suspected person declined a polygraph I automatically assumed their guilt. Just like the rest of society would. Until now...

I can say now the tables have turned, dramatically!!! I am still in a state of shock from what happened. The HUGE margaritas are causing a little ease on the situation, momentarily. 

I'm confused about scheduling another polygraph. How else could I convince someone? But if I were to fail would this be the final nail in the coffin of my relationship??

All I can do now is educate myself on this BULLSHIT scam! It pains me to know there are thousands of people out there in the real world getting robbed of their relationships, jobs, place in life, and most of all their sanity. Reality to someone is what they believe in their mind and it is so unfortunate that a polygraph can persuade what someone believes.

There are a million things that feel bad, but none top the feeling of being falsely accused. I think that alone, in my opinion, is one of the worst experiences to go through. 

I am not very educated about polygraphs, but I want to help! What can I do to get involved? I am willing to do anything!!! I would hate to see another human in my shoes go through what I just experienced. 

Until then all I can do is research, research, research!!!

Thanks again!

Keep the responses coming!!

Quote:


I will try to explain this to the best of my ability. 

Me and my partner showed up to the office to go forward with this test. The examiner interviewed us both together. He never separated us during the interview process. We both told him all we wanted to do was prove my loyalty since the time we have dated. 

He stated some questions were relevant and some were irrelevant and went on about how this test will work... 

On to the test... He asked my partner to step out of the room while he hooked me up to the polygraph. The questions sarted something like this. 

"Are the lights on in this room?" YES
----20 second pause

"Are you sitting in a chair?" YES
----20 second pause

"Prior to 2009 have you lied to any family member or friend to deliberately hurt them?" NO (this one felt tricky to me. I have lied to people, but it was never to deliberately hurt them)
----20 second pause

"Other than (partners name) have you had any sexual relations with any other women since July?" NO
----20 second pause

"Have you ever cheated on (partners name)?" NO
----20 second pause

Now a 5 minute break while he did something on the computer....

Repeated all questions again as stated above. Then the results, he said "I'm sorry but I cant clear you of this test" 

I showed strong reactions to this question  "Other than (partners name) have you had any sexual experiences with any other women since July?"

All of the other questions I showed no reaction to at all... It's just crazy! I have never had any other relations with any woman in any way since me and my partner first became involved. 

That's about all I can describe of the test to the best of my ability. I know the interview process untill the time the test was finished took exactly 50 minutes. I signed my papers at 5:05
pm and signed upon completion at 5:55 pm 

As I stated earlier, this question felt tricky to me... 

"Prior to 2009 have you lied to any family member or friend to deliberately hurt them?" NO 

If someone were to ask me this and I could elaborate without only saying yes or no my answer would go like this..

"YES I have lied to people prior to 2009, but NO I have not lied to people prior to 2009 to deliberately hurt them"

I typically lie to NOT hurt someone or to avoid arguments...

I hope I am explaining this enough so you all understand what I mean. I do not feel like I lied to the examiner by answering NO... So does this mean he assumed my answer was a lie, when in fact it was not? The reason is because I do not feel like I have lied to deliberately hurt someone that's why I answered NO.

This is so confusing! Polygraphs are the devil in disguise!!!! Thanks for everyone sharing and continuing to share their input. I guess all i am trying to do is make sense of what just happened to me. I'm still waiting to wake up from a bad dream.

Thanks for the cited report.

Yes, it's all true.  The ironic thing is, polygraphers have posted here regularly advising people to "just tell the truth".  They admit that false positives happen (reluctantly) but claim (base mostly on the methane gas coming out their arses) that they are "rare", and mainly due to "bad operators".   If only THEY had been the examiner, blah, blah, blah.

Did your polygraph operator make any claims as to accuracy of the polygraph?  Did he get aggressive or accusatory with you?

TC

Quote:


Did you ask him what he based that figure on?  Doesn't matter, he would have just bullshitted you.

We just had a polygrapher post here that it was an over-generalization to say that polygraph operators claim the polygraph machine detects deception.  He posted under numerous user names.  He was eventually exposed.  Went to his website and saw that he quite clearly makes that claim.  Oh well.

Did the scheister you went to make you sign a bunch of disclaimers?   

TC

Problem is, they take whatever info you give them and distort it, and blow it out of proportion to justify the chart.  This is why it is important to KNOW that a reaction does not necessarily mean deception, or that you are hiding something.  And NOT to get into a guessing game with the polygrapher as to why you are reacting.  It's just an interrogation technique designed to extract info out of you. 

The NAS report concluded the polygraph has "utility", not "validity".  IOW, it can be used to screw  innocent but uninformed people.  The purpose of this website is to inform the uninformed.  And judging by the way  polygraphers have squealed and ranted over this site, I'd say GM is going a pretty good job.

But the main point to remember is that the machine measures ANS reactions, which may or may not indicate deception.  Polygrapher know that, but lie about it.  You should take whatever they say with the same skepticism you would a used car deal trying to sell you a used car.   Forget what you've seen on "Dr. Phil" or "NCIS".

TC