27
votes
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
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.
The author recalls how the test was more akin to an interrogation, and effectively changed his memory to reflect the test's findings.
Scary stuff.
I don't get this sentiment. I know about cognitive dissonance, but this seems different snd very foreign to me.
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.
Wow, that sounds like it might as well be torture. Horrendous.
I'm guessing this is another tactic to elicit a confession?
That's just a nation state level frat hazing ritual.