Polygraph

For other uses, see Polygraph (disambiguation).
"Lie Detector" redirects here. For other uses, see Lie Detector (disambiguation).
American inventor Leonarde Keeler testing his improved polygraph on Kohler, a former witness for the prosecution at the 1935 trial of Richard Hauptmann

A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test,[1][2][3] is a pseudoscientific[4][5][6] device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked and answers a series of questions.[7] The belief underpinning the use of the polygraph is that deceptive answers will produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with non-deceptive answers; however, there are no specific physiological reactions associated with lying, making it difficult to identify factors that separate those who are lying from those who are telling the truth.[8]

In some countries, polygraphs are used as an interrogation tool with criminal suspects or candidates for sensitive public or private sector employment. Some United States law enforcement and federal government agencies,[9][10] and many police departments use polygraph examinations to interrogate suspects and screen new employees. Within the US federal government, a polygraph examination is also referred to as a psychophysiological detection of deception examination.[11]

Assessments of polygraphy by scientific and government bodies generally suggest that polygraphs are highly inaccurate, may easily be defeated by countermeasures, and are an imperfect or invalid means of assessing truthfulness.[12][13][6][14] A comprehensive 2003 review by the National Academy of Sciences of existing research concluded that there was "little basis for the expectation that a polygraph test could have extremely high accuracy."[6] The American Psychological Association states that "most psychologists agree that there is little evidence that polygraph tests can accurately detect lies."[8]

  1. ^ "lie detector test". Legal Information Institute. June 2020. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  2. ^ "The Truth About Lie Detectors (aka Polygraph Tests)". American Psychological Association. 2004. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  3. ^ Robinson, Bryan (July 14, 2001). "Polygraphs Accurate But Not Foolproof". ABC News. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  4. ^ "United States v. Scheffer: A U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Polygraph Testing". Federation of American Scientists. March 31, 1998. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  5. ^ Saxe, Leonard (July 1991). "Science and the CQT polygraph". Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science. 26 (3): 223–231. doi:10.1007/BF02912514. PMID 1954162.
  6. ^ a b c Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences and Education (BCSSE) and Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) (March 19, 2013). The Polygraph and Lie Detection. National Research Council. doi:10.17226/10420. ISBN 978-0-309-26392-4. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ J P Rosenfeld (1995). "Alternative Views of Bashore and Rapp's (1993) alternatives to traditional polygraphy: a critique". Psychological Bulletin. 117: 159–166. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.1.159.
  8. ^ a b "The Truth About Lie Detectors (aka Polygraph Tests)". apa.org. American Psychological Association.
  9. ^ Stromberg, Joseph (December 15, 2014). "Lie detectors: Why they don't work, and why police use them anyway". Vox. Archived from the original on August 16, 2014. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  10. ^ Flock, Elizabeth (September 25, 2012). "NSA Whistleblower Reveals How To Beat a Polygraph Test". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  11. ^ "Federal Psychophysiological Detection of Deception Examiner Handbook" (PDF). Antipolygraph.org. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference faspol was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference APA2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ LaMotte, Sandee (September 7, 2018). "The shaky science of lie detectors". CNN. Archived from the original on November 5, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2023.