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Polygraph question
- Post starter Supervixn
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Friday
Sponsor
To be “outside the scope” that means outside the scope of what the machine has a chance in hell of determining truthfulness.
- Did you kill the unicorn? = Inside the scope. (Simple answer)
- Why did you kill the unicorn? = Outside the scope. (Complex answer)
- Where did you hide the unicorn’s body, you sick sonnuvabitch!?! = Waaaaaay outside the scope. (Not only a complex answer, but far too many parts of the question to be responding to.)
***
Polygraphs work by measuring -usually unconscious- bodily reactions. The most basic ones just check heart rate and blood pressure and breath rate. The more advanced ones measure sweating, pupillary reactions (dilating constricting), blood flow to different regions of the brain & core/extremities, chemical composition of your sweat/breath, etc.
In order to catch minor variations in any of those things they need simple answers.
Why? Because complex answers are usually driven by many different things (emotions, reasoning, etc.)... and no machine can be calibrated to assign which reaction is to which part of the question, much less what layer of emotion/reasoning is attached to any particular part of your answer. <<< In point of fact, that’s a counter-interrogation trick, to complicate both the question and your answer in your head before response, so that the technician is looking at EITHER a mass of indeterminable data, or no matter what answer you give, you’re delivering a consistent reading. >>> CLASSIC EXAMPLE = YES I believe stealing is wrong, except in cases where you’re trying to save your life or someone else’s, without putting anyone else’s life at risk, so NO I don’t believe stealing is wrong.
Yes/No = (usually) Very easy to determine your body’s reaction to that question, and the response.
But if you’ve either been trained to f*ck win your body’s autonomic responses OR are on a medication that alters your body’s autonomic responses (anti anxiety meds in particular, but also several others)... the answers/readings from the machine will EITHER be indeterminate OR incorrect.
- Did you kill the unicorn? = Inside the scope. (Simple answer)
- Why did you kill the unicorn? = Outside the scope. (Complex answer)
- Where did you hide the unicorn’s body, you sick sonnuvabitch!?! = Waaaaaay outside the scope. (Not only a complex answer, but far too many parts of the question to be responding to.)
***
Polygraphs work by measuring -usually unconscious- bodily reactions. The most basic ones just check heart rate and blood pressure and breath rate. The more advanced ones measure sweating, pupillary reactions (dilating constricting), blood flow to different regions of the brain & core/extremities, chemical composition of your sweat/breath, etc.
In order to catch minor variations in any of those things they need simple answers.
Why? Because complex answers are usually driven by many different things (emotions, reasoning, etc.)... and no machine can be calibrated to assign which reaction is to which part of the question, much less what layer of emotion/reasoning is attached to any particular part of your answer. <<< In point of fact, that’s a counter-interrogation trick, to complicate both the question and your answer in your head before response, so that the technician is looking at EITHER a mass of indeterminable data, or no matter what answer you give, you’re delivering a consistent reading. >>> CLASSIC EXAMPLE = YES I believe stealing is wrong, except in cases where you’re trying to save your life or someone else’s, without putting anyone else’s life at risk, so NO I don’t believe stealing is wrong.
Yes/No = (usually) Very easy to determine your body’s reaction to that question, and the response.
But if you’ve either been trained to f*ck win your body’s autonomic responses OR are on a medication that alters your body’s autonomic responses (anti anxiety meds in particular, but also several others)... the answers/readings from the machine will EITHER be indeterminate OR incorrect.
- Post starter
- #3
Swift
Diamond Member
@Friday , awesome answer as always.
From a tech's perspective, I've never done a polygraph but I have done similar tests - (polygraphs have largely been debunked as BS) -
"Outside the scope" means 'something the test can't measure.'
Friday's right about the questions thing, just from an equipment perspective if nothing else:
Polygraphs focus on your hand. The equipment only has a sensitivity range of about 5-12.
It's like the human ear - there are sounds too low and sounds too high for our eardrums to be able to hear, because of their size, space, design etc.
Same with a polygraph machine - there are certain things it can sense, and certain things it can't, because of the frequency range of detection.
A piece of metal, a machine, isn't capable of detecting everything.
One of the first things I learnt was "if it looks wrong, you are wrong."
If I plug someone into a polygraph, and my machine is reading wrong - they're not visible on the paper, the machine isn't picking up the signals as it should, this is also "outside the scope."
I don't watch a heck of a lot of TV, but it's also something that applies to equipment as well as questions.
From a tech's perspective, I've never done a polygraph but I have done similar tests - (polygraphs have largely been debunked as BS) -
"Outside the scope" means 'something the test can't measure.'
Friday's right about the questions thing, just from an equipment perspective if nothing else:
Polygraphs focus on your hand. The equipment only has a sensitivity range of about 5-12.
It's like the human ear - there are sounds too low and sounds too high for our eardrums to be able to hear, because of their size, space, design etc.
Same with a polygraph machine - there are certain things it can sense, and certain things it can't, because of the frequency range of detection.
A piece of metal, a machine, isn't capable of detecting everything.
One of the first things I learnt was "if it looks wrong, you are wrong."
If I plug someone into a polygraph, and my machine is reading wrong - they're not visible on the paper, the machine isn't picking up the signals as it should, this is also "outside the scope."
I don't watch a heck of a lot of TV, but it's also something that applies to equipment as well as questions.
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