Taking a Poly for the first time(is this for real?

[601dude]

Well I have never been so un-nerved about taking a test before. Why am I so nervous this time. Well because I have to take a poly. Knowing what I know about the test and having worked in the law enforcement profession for 5 years i do not trust these test.

My very closest friend reasures me that these test are complete BS. That I have nothing to worry about.... Yet i am realistic, and while I am a honest person I was not always a perfect angel growing up and made some mistakes. This is not an entry level exam this is a lateral entry exam. So what am I to expect? Look I will be completely honest with you as a former police chief I have seen this all to many times. I have hired officers that are so squeky clean that they rival the virgin mary herself. And guess what they have not a clue what to look for. I mean that these guys have blind eyes to the world they take forever to get what I call "meat eaters eyes." What I mean by this is that they have never really done anything in there life that was really considered bad. That they would not know bad if it hit them in the face. Now on the other side to this is the guy that when younger might have been a hell raiser, but as he matured quite being such a bone head.... I think that this is a an accurate picture of most male youths dont you?

So why do we put so much stock on this test that from a scientific point of view is so far off of base? This test from what I can undestand does not truly tell anyone that the subject has lied or been truthful. Point in case my closest friend that I mentioned earlier is a police officer and has taken several of these test, and truth be told lied on every single test. When he told me that I asked what he lied about? His reply "things that are none of their damn buisness!" personal matters that have little to no baring on the job hiring qualifications. I agree with my friend, yet i am now nervous about taking this test that i have personally have subjected so many other to taking this test, kinda ironic would you not say?

My friend informed me that after the test the test giver told my friend that he had some questions to some of his answers and detected deception. My friend knowing that the this guy was running some bs on him stuck to his guns and refussed to change his answers and passed his test. Is this really how this works? And if so then why lie to the people that are going to be good officers. They use this useless test for hiring purposes. This is not only wrong but what a shame. Yet should I still be concerned about this test???

[George W. Maschke]

tony6012001,

Yes, you should be very concerned about this procedure that is wrongly calle a "test." Polygraph screening has absolutely no scientific basis and zero diagnostic value. Many truthful applicants are falsely accused of deception and wrongly disqualified.

At this point, I think it would be best to educate yourself about polygraphy. You'll find it explained in detail in AntiPolygraph.org's free e-book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, which you can download as a PDF file here:

http://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf

In particular, Chapter 3 explains the trickery on which polygraphy depends, and Chapter 4 explains strategies for protecting yourself against the risk of a false positive outcome.

[601dude]

Ok thank you for your response, and i have read the e-book for the most part and am astounded at the information provided. Question, what if a person who knows that thetest is clearly just BS does not give any responses then what happens? I mean a person who truly believes that this test is completely baseless would naturaly give no physical response. So am i to understand that under these circumstances that one should just give a physical response anyhow to the control questions?

[George W. Maschke]

The key to passing is to show stronger physiological reactions to the "control" questions than to the relevant questions. Such reactions may be produced through either physical means (such as tongue biting) or cognitive means (such as working on a difficult math problem).