27 votes

What the all-American delusion of the Polygraph says about our relationship to fact and fiction

Posted by dave1234
Tags: usa, polygraphs, justice.criminal, author.justin st germain, source.literary hub, long read
https://lithub.com/what-the-all-american-delusion-of-the-polygraph-says-about-our-relationship-to-fact-and-fiction/

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Authors
Justin St. Germain
Published
Jul 15 2024
Word count
10 533 words

5 comments

  1. [2]
    dave1234
    Link
    This was a long, but fascinating read. I've known for years that polygraph tests are junk science, but this provided some great insight into why they're still used, especially by the US...

    This was a long, but fascinating read. I've known for years that polygraph tests are junk science, but this provided some great insight into why they're still used, especially by the US Government.

    ... And why is [the US] government the only major employer in the world that uses polygraphs to screen prospective hires?

    The answer to that question is based on a lie. Even the United States government isn’t dumb enough to believe the polygraph works. The machine’s real purpose is symbolic, as an icon of the power of the state. Law enforcement agencies don’t use the machine to detect lies. They use it to coerce confessions.

    The author recalls how the test was more akin to an interrogation, and effectively changed his memory to reflect the test's findings.

    The polygraph works a lot like a memoir. It doesn’t find the truth, it creates it. First the exam makes you doubt or forget your memories. Then, by forcing you to re-access them again and again under stress, it literally rewrites them. Since my polygraph exam, I’ve believed that I did drugs between six and eight times before then, even though my rational mind knows that isn’t true. My experience of being polygraphed showed me that not only does the polygraph not detect lies, it manufactures them.

    Scary stuff.

    24 votes
    1. zipf_slaw
      Link Parent
      I don't get this sentiment. I know about cognitive dissonance, but this seems different snd very foreign to me.

      Since my polygraph exam, I’ve believed that I did drugs between six and eight times before then, even though my rational mind knows that isn’t true

      I don't get this sentiment. I know about cognitive dissonance, but this seems different snd very foreign to me.

      11 votes
  2. [3]
    TheD00d
    Link
    As someone how has been through a couple when applying to some of our intelligence community orgs/agencies (I was younger and a lot more naive then). The last part about "making up the truth" is...

    As someone how has been through a couple when applying to some of our intelligence community orgs/agencies (I was younger and a lot more naive then). The last part about "making up the truth" is so, so real it hurts.

    I had a full blown breakdown during mine. They put you in this awful chair with sensors strapped to you for hours. You can't move or do anything or it will "mess with the test". They kept asking me if I have ever smoked weed (which at the time, I had - like twice I think) but they need to know the specifics. Vagueness doesn't work for them. Like the exact specifics and if you don't know they will drill down and drill down and drill until you essentially admit to something wildly inaccurate and divorced from reality. I at one point admitted to doing hard drugs because I couldn't recall if my friends were fucking with me about this drink they gave me having "lean" in it at one party years earlier. I think they were, but who fucking knows. I'd also like to point out this was after my psych exam where they nail you on stupid comments you might have said in passing at any point during your process.

    About half way through my first go exam (They say the second is optional - it's not) the "head" person who handles polygraph came in and said "Mr. Dood, I'm REDADCTED from the CIA, I need you be honest with us. This is the most difficult polygraph reading I have ever seen."

    Shits pretty bad.

    16 votes
    1. dave1234
      Link Parent
      Wow, that sounds like it might as well be torture. Horrendous. I'm guessing this is another tactic to elicit a confession?

      Wow, that sounds like it might as well be torture. Horrendous.

      About half way through my first go exam (They say the second is optional - it's not) the "head" person who handles polygraph came in and said "Mr. Dood, I'm REDADCTED from the CIA, I need you be honest with us. This is the most difficult polygraph reading I have ever seen."

      I'm guessing this is another tactic to elicit a confession?

      11 votes
    2. teaearlgraycold
      Link Parent
      That's just a nation state level frat hazing ritual.

      That's just a nation state level frat hazing ritual.

      9 votes