Examination of the Polygraph
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Technology often provides new ways of accomplishing tasks, ways that seem to promise perfection until they are fully tested. The use of the polygraph in the criminal justice system and now in private business seems to offer a means to ascertain the truth and to tell who is lying and who is not, but an examination of the data on polygraph testing and of the history of the use of the polygraph shows that this is not necessarily the case. There are those who can lie and in effect "fool" the polygraph into thinking they are telling the truth. This is because of the nature of the machine, the responses it is actually designed to measure, and the fact that all data provided by the machine has to be interpreted by a human operator who also can make errors and who can be fooled. An examination of the polygraph, how it works and what its limitations may be, will show how a person can manipulate the machine and can pass a lie-detector test even when they are not telling the truth. This issue becomes more important as the polygraph is used in more and more situations. A survey in 1988 by the American Management Association of 1,005 companies showed that the number of companies using polygraph tests for new hires had decreased because of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988, legislation passed precisely because the use of the polygraph in business was then increasing and because it was a situation rife with potential for abuse (Greenberg 43). This legislation made it ille
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ssistant secretary of defense, and he stated that there is no physiological response unique to lying (Dujack 10). Leonard Saxe of the City University of New York echoes this statement (Brown A3). Supporters of the polygraph often claim that inaccurate results are produced because of inadequate training or improper technique rather than to any inherent flaws in the polygraph itself (Dujack 10-11).
Recent research suggests some of the ways in which the polygraph can be beaten, or fooled into perceiving a lie as the truth, though there are conflicting results on some of these methods. As noted, some drugs may affect the test, but a recent study raised doubts by testing diazepam, meprobamate, and propranolol and their effects on the outcome of a guilty knowledge test. In this experiment, 75 undergraduate students were evenly divided among one innocent and four guilty groups. Subjects in each of the guilty groups received either one of the drugs or a placebo before the administration of the test and after viewing a videotape depicting a burglary as seen from the perspective of the burglar. The results showed that drug status had no influence on the outcome of the test (Iacono, Cerri, Patrick, and Fleming 60-64).
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Patrick Fleming, Protection Act, Security Agency, A3 Supporters, , Brown A3, Technology Assessment, Beary III, Management Association, AE Fleming, blood pressure, polygraph test, lie detector, autonomic nervous system, telling truth, autonomic nervous, validity polygraph, nervous system, test results, polygraph tests, designed measure, able escape detection, blood pressure pulse, factors affect validity,
Approximate Word count = 1725
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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