I took my polygraph today with a law enforcement agency somewhere. I admitted to smoking marijuana a few times but denied ever using LSD. I tried it twice in highschool, but I was told by my police friends not to admit to it because it is an automatic disqualifier. I am not proud of lieing and I wish I did not have to, but I did. Anyways, I read The Lie Behind the Lie Detector and learned to identfy control questions and apply countermeasures. During the polygraph, I lied with reguard to being honest about my illegal drug use history, however, I was not questioned about it during the post test interrogation. I was questioned about a couple of the control questions and I gave reasonable reason to why I reacted to them. He went on to tell me that I passed the polygraph and that he would submit his report to backgrounds in a few days. He was pleasent and wished me luck with the rest of the process. Does this sound like I really passed or is there still a chance I might fail? I read a few posts where people were told they passed but then found out later they failed or were inconclusive. Any thoughts?
Also, thanks George and Antipolygraph.org. I passed my polygraph using countermeasures and by identfying controls. I feel bad for lieing, however, I assume we all have skeletons in our closets. :-/
Guest,
First of all, I believe you're right that most people have skeletons in their closets. For many people, those skeletons are probably worse than yours. And second, it sounds like you're someone who has learned his lesson regarding past mistakes -- I can respect that. It sounds like other police officers there can, too.
It's impossible to know for certain how you did until you get a definitive thumbs up or down -- the polygraph session is kind of like an alternate reality. Based upon your account, however, it sounds like you did OK.
Skeptic