Question Regarding Counter Measure Effectiveness

[DStarbuck]

I want to truly believe the information on this site because I am scheduled to take a polygraph with LAPD and a VSA with CHP.  However, if lots of people on the site are using the techniques to help pass the test, why are so many people still reporting failings?  

[T.M. Cullen]

However, if lots of people on the site are using the techniques to help pass the test, why are so many people still reporting failings?

Most people do not come to this site until AFTER taking and failing their polygraph.

TC

[DStarbuck]

Good point.  I hope this poll hasnt been done previously.  

[George W. Maschke]

A downside to trying to gauge the effectiveness of polygraph countermeasures by means of an on-line poll is that the respondents are self-selecting. It's worth bearing in mind that while many readers come to this forum only after having failed a polygraph examination, some of our most devoted readers are polygraph examiners, who are free to anonymously participate in the poll and may have an interest in skewing results in a preferred direction.

For what it's worth, two of the three poll respondents that have thus far chosen "Failed Test Using Counter Measures" did so from IP addresses belonging to governmental entities that employ polygraph operators.

A better way of appraising the effectiveness of countermeasures is to look to the available research on the subject. In studies by Charles Honts and others, some 50% of test subjects succeeded in fooling the polygraph after a maximum of 30 minutes of instruction. See the bibliography of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for citations and abstracts.