help-poly soon & very confused on ?'s

[anonpolysite]

Forgive me, but I am very confused with the so-called 'control' questions, and how to respond to them.  I see several people have asked the same type of questions before, and have the same confusion I do.

If I employ CM's (which I am doubting now) it would only be mentally thinking about something dreadful, versus uses the breathing or anal sphincter procedure.  

First- does one employ any type of CM to augment your responses to the 'stim' test?  When they ask you to lie, do you say 'No', and augment your reaction, so that you truly are a screamer.??  .  I don't know why I should do this, if it just labels me a screamer when I lie?? That is, if he picks the number 4 and then directs me to say 'no' when he mentions the number 3, do I also augment then when I respond with a 'no'??

2nd- what happens if you have already made admissions to everything you can think of in the pre-poly questionnaire. (Have you ever stolen anything from an employer, has alcohol ever effected your ability to operate a motor vehicle).  If they change the question to "Besides what you have mentioned, have you ever stolen anything from an employer'.  Does it now mean that the original ' control'  question (have you ever stolen anything form an employer)  has NOW  been turned into a  'relevant '  question concerning if you were truthful in your previous admission??  Sorry, for the question, but I am confused!



Alos, how does one handle telling th polygrapher 'No' to  hist question 'do you know anything about countermeasures', and then coming back with a question at the end of the test stating  " Have you lied to me in any way since we have been talking today?" ?  Clearly i have not, because i didn't succumb and tell him I knew about the poly and CM's.  But , I am lying to him!  Is the question, "Have you lied to me in any way since we have been talking today?"   which I keep reading is referred to as a control, in actuality now a 'relevant' question?  If so, I might show a reaction to it, as I never did tell him about all I know about the poly.


Then on the controls questions.  I would assume that the following are controls:

Have you ever called into work sick, when you really weren't?   If so, how many times.    ( again, if you admit to the number of times you have called in sick and weren't , does this control question "Have you ever called into work sick, when you weren't ( I am sure everyone has)  now became a 'relevant; question since you admitted that you had???

Have you ever had sex in public?  ( see above, if you admit 4 times, are they going to question if the number 4 admission is correct , then if so, isn't this a 'relevant' question now?


And if I was asked the following question on a pre-poly questionnaire:
" Did you ever steal anything from any of your employers?"  and I answer  'Yes', and he comes back with "Other than what you stated in your pre-polygraph questionnaire, did you ever steal anything from any of your employers?", is this a 'control' or a 'relevant' question???  Since I have already admitted everything (I spilled my guts- nothing however was valued over $10), then how do I answer?  If I answer 'NO' do I use any type of CM's.  Again, it would seem that this is a 'relevant' question to me, and by using 'CM" I further show a reaction to a relevant question?

Have you ever followed and observed a spouse, significant other in your car?  I assume this is a 'relevant question'  



Also, It's been said, that  the "disguised control" questions are "Do you intend to lie to any of the questions on this test?" and "Have you lied to me in any way since we have been talking today?" While such questions are commonly used as sacrifice relevant questions (see p. 50 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector) in "control" question "tests," here they are actually used as "control" questions.

.. In a CQT are these REALLY  "control"  questions? To me, they are checking the veracity of what you are going to say, and what you did say and therefore they are very  'relevant' questions in my mind!!   ( I anyone else confused by all this??



And as an example??  Ex..Have you cheated in school?     Obvious control question...would the correct method of using CM be saying yes while administering these CM's?  And again, what if you admitted to doing it a few times.

Sorry for the frantic and un-organized post.  I am just not sure about how to recognize control questions and how they are manipulated once you have made a minor admission.


Thanks again for your help. Sorry for the long & rambling post.   My poly is next week.

[George W. Maschke]

anonpolysite,

Note that in research done by Professor Charles R. Honts of Boise State University, mental countermeasures were just as effective as physical countermeasures. See the bibliography of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for citations.

I'll address each of your quetions below. Your first question was:

First- does one employ any type of CM to augment your responses to the 'stim' test?  When they ask you to lie, do you say 'No', and augment your reaction, so that you truly are a screamer.??  .  I don't know why I should do this, if it just labels me a screamer when I lie?? That is, if he picks the number 4 and then directs me to say 'no' when he mentions the number 3, do I also augment then when I respond with a 'no'??

If one chooses to use countermeasures to protect oneself, then one might want to augment one's physiological responses only to the question about the number (or card) one picked during the "stim" test. The advantage of being labeled as a "screamer" in the polygrapher's mind is that he or she will think that one can't tell a lie without it showing on the polygraph and will expect strong reactions to the "control" questions.

2nd- what happens if you have already made admissions to everything you can think of in the pre-poly questionnaire. (Have you ever stolen anything from an employer, has alcohol ever effected your ability to operate a motor vehicle).  If they change the question to "Besides what you have mentioned, have you ever stolen anything from an employer'.  Does it now mean that the original ' control'  question (have you ever stolen anything form an employer)  has NOW  been turned into a  'relevant '  question concerning if you were truthful in your previous admission??  Sorry, for the question, but I am confused!

No. The addition of "besides what you told me" to a "control" question does not transform it into a relevant question. However, quite apart from the scoring of charts, admissions made during the polygraph interrogation that go beyond those made in the pre-polygraph questionnaire could well be used as grounds for disqualification.

Alos, how does one handle telling th polygrapher 'No' to  hist question 'do you know anything about countermeasures', and then coming back with a question at the end of the test stating  " Have you lied to me in any way since we have been talking today?" ?  Clearly i have not, because i didn't succumb and tell him I knew about the poly and CM's.  But , I am lying to him!  Is the question, "Have you lied to me in any way since we have been talking today?"   which I keep reading is referred to as a control, in actuality now a 'relevant' question?  If so, I might show a reaction to it, as I never did tell him about all I know about the poly.

Remember that the key to successfully employing countermeasures is not to suppress any reactions one might exhibit when answering relevant questions but to produce stronger reactions when answering the "control" questions. Regarding the use of the question "Have you lied to me in any way since we have been talking today?" as a "control," I believe you are thinking of the DoDPI General Question Test (GQT), which uses "disguised control" questions at the beginning and end, and which I discussed in an earlier message thread. Do not confuse the GQT with the CQT. The CQT is the technique most widely used in pre-employment screening.

Then on the controls questions.  I would assume that the following are controls:

Have you ever called into work sick, when you really weren't?   If so, how many times.    ( again, if you admit to the number of times you have called in sick and weren't , does this control question "Have you ever called into work sick, when you weren't ( I am sure everyone has)  now became a 'relevant; question since you admitted that you had???

Have you ever had sex in public?  ( see above, if you admit 4 times, are they going to question if the number 4 admission is correct , then if so, isn't this a 'relevant' question now?

The first question seems to me like a "control" question. With regard to the second question, I don't know. I don't think it can be assumed that most people have had sex in public. And having sex in public does not seem to be such a common activity that a prospective employer should be concerned about it. (I see no legitimate reason for an employer to ask this question.) It is conceivable that this question might be used as a "personally embarrassing question," that is, one that by its very nature is expected to produce a physiological reaction and is used as a form of "control" question.

" Did you ever steal anything from any of your employers?"  and I answer  'Yes', and he comes back with "Other than what you stated in your pre-polygraph questionnaire, did you ever steal anything from any of your employers?", is this a 'control' or a 'relevant' question???  Since I have already admitted everything (I spilled my guts- nothing however was valued over $10), then how do I answer?  If I answer 'NO' do I use any type of CM's.  Again, it would seem that this is a 'relevant' question to me, and by using 'CM" I further show a reaction to a relevant question?

The question "Did you ever steal anything from any of your employers?" is a very common "control" question. Even though one has spilled one's guts and the question has been re-phrased as, "Other than what you told me, did you ever steal anything from any of your employers?" is still a control question.

Note that if one is at all uncertain about whether a question is or is not a "control" question, then it is safest not to apply countermeasures when answering it, because augmenting one's reactions to a relevant question is likely to result in failure.

Have you ever followed and observed a spouse, significant other in your car?  I assume this is a 'relevant question'  

It seems like a relevant question about stalking to me.

Also, It's been said, that  the "disguised control" questions are "Do you intend to lie to any of the questions on this test?" and "Have you lied to me in any way since we have been talking today?" While such questions are commonly used as sacrifice relevant questions (see p. 50 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector) in "control" question "tests," here they are actually used as "control" questions.

.. In a CQT are these REALLY  "control"  questions? To me, they are checking the veracity of what you are going to say, and what you did say and therefore they are very  'relevant' questions in my mind!!   ( I anyone else confused by all this??

Again, you're thinking of the GQT, not the CQT.

And as an example??  Ex..Have you cheated in school?     Obvious control question...would the correct method of using CM be saying yes while administering these CM's?  And again, what if you admitted to doing it a few times.

No, the correct method of using countermeasures when answering the "control" question, "Did you ever cheat in school?" or "Besides what you told me, did you ever cheat in school?" is not to answer the question "yes."

I suggest that you carefully read (and re-read) Chapters 3 and 4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.