OK, I am not the smartest apple in the orchard... So if someone take a polygraph with no pre filled emp form or any form for that matter and you get "control" questions like Have you ever cheated in school? or Are you an honest person? These are expected as yes answers. But if you say 
yes and yes then how do you do CM's to those answers? I mean if you do yes to the first question and do CM's then the examiner will see it as a lie, but really, who has not cheated in school. And if you answer yes to the second question and do CM's to it then you are saying you are not an honest person.. I am so confused.......

Also by trying to increase your reaction to the "control" questions with countermeasures you will most likely also increase the strength of the relevant questions because you will know inside that they are so important and you will not be able to avoid reacting to them. The best you can hope for most of the time with countermeasures is an inconclusive result and you might actually increase your chances of failure. So better to have never read any of this stuff about countermeasures and take the test cold. Just my two cents take it or leave it. But what do I know since I am an evil polygrapher? Muahahaha!

Beanhead wrote on Jun 10^th, 2009 at 12:16am:


No. The expected answer to "Have you ever cheated in school?" is "No." If you admit having cheated in school, the polygrapher will move to cut off further admissions. For example, "I hope you weren't a habitual cheater. Research shows that those who would cheat in school are the same kind of people who cheat in the workplace. In our line of work, where lives are on the line, we can't afford that kind of dishonesty. Other than what you told me, did you ever cheat in school?" At this point, it is expected that the examinee will finally answer, "No." But this denial is still assumed to be a probable lie.

The expected answer to, "Are you an honest person?" is indeed "yes." But it is expected that everyone will have doubts about their honesty, as no one is completely honest all the time.

For more on polygraph procedure, see Chapter 3 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.

During the "Pre Test" when the polygrapher is going over the questions with you, will you answer them then and then in the "In Test" itselfe?

TS,

The flaw in your argument that I pointed out is a logical one, and one doesn't have to be a polygraph operator to see it. You basically argued that if a person uses countermeasures, she's going to involuntarily react more strongly to the relevant questions, too, because she will understand their significance. But the point I'm making is that once a person understands polygraph procedure, then whether or not that person chooses to employ countermeasures, she will still understand the significance of the relevant questions.

Ok let me see if I can explain my argument so you can understand it better. First though, is it safe to assume that neither George nor T.M. have ever conducted a polygraph? If so then your failure to understand what I'm saying makes more sense. I don't want you to think that I am being condescending toward you just because you don't have any experience with the polygraph but sometimes when we represent our statements as fact it lends us more credence when we actually have some experience to know what we are talking about. Does that make sense without offending you? Hope so.
If you have no experience conducting polygraphs then your arguments might sound plausible, George and T.M. But to experienced polygraphers they simply aren't supportable by what we see all the time with actual people.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, while watching a Queen character in a play says "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Often this line is quoted by people to say that someone is objecting with such exaggeration that they are losing credibility. This isn't what Shakespeare's Queen Gertrude was saying--she was actually saying that the Queen in the play was making vows that were too strong to kept--but the modern interpretation by most people who quote the line will suffice to help explain my point with regard to countermeasures. There is such a thing as a garbage chart, and to any good polygrapher a garbage chart stands out. When there are consistently strong responses to relevant questions at the same time there are what we see as consistent, highly exaggerated responses to comparison questions, it just isn't normal. It's garbage. As they say, garbage in-garbage out. When we go to analyze the chart we very often end up with inconclusive results, yet we know something is amiss because of the consistently strong responses to the relevant questions as well as what we see as trained investigators in outward behavior and verbal clues from the person taking the test. When we see all of this going on, we might say that the subject "doth protest too much."
There are some studies that suggest countermeasures might actually work against a non-deceptive subject and I don't know of any study that provides support for the idea that they will help a non-deceptive subject pass the test. If you know of a good field study that supports your argument then I will be happy to read it though.
That ends today's lesson. I'm sure there is much more to be said but I am tired now.
For next time's lesson I would like to talk about the inconclusive result on a polygraph test because I think there is some confusion not only here on this forum but also with many people who will have to submit to a polygraph test in the near future.
Thank you for your time and cordiality.

Beanhead wrote on Jun 10^th, 2009 at 5:59pm:
  I really like the conversation going on but could someone please answer my question?  thanks

Quote:


There was a long thread on this very topic on this board that discussed the merits of the above study, and point/counter point between GM and former APA president Skip Webb.

https://antipolygraph.org/cgi-bin/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1192473646/0

So grab a cup of coffee, turn off your phone or have your secretary hold all calls, and enjoy the above thread, quite interesting.

Note:  If you want to cut down on "eye strain" and are concerned only with the debate of the subject study, I advise readers to just read the posts of GM and Skip Webb, and scroll past everything else.

TC