More on polygraphs
As Greensboro City Council prepares to take polygraph exams this week, here's a Washington Post story on the validity and uses of polygraph tests.
Here's the Web site of the American Polygraph Association, including answers to some frequently asked questions about how polygraphs work. (This is a membership association for polygraph examiners, so take that for what you will.)
Council member Sandy Carmany weighs in on her blog, including a request of the News & Record.
Comments (2)
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Even the American Polygraph Association admits to a one out of eight chance for a false positive. This could get interesting.
Posted on May 1, 2006 11:40 AM
You'll find that the American Polygraph Association website provides very little information on how a polygraph test actually "works." This is because the person being "tested" is not supposed to know about certain deceptions upon which the "test" depends.
For a detailed explanation of polygraph procedure (documented with references to official sources), see Chapter 3 of AntiPolygraph.org's free e-book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (1mb PDF).
See also the federal government's official polygraph handbook, formally titled the Psychophysiological Detection of Deception Examiner Handbook (1mb PDF).
Posted on May 4, 2006 6:50 AM