I've done a few and never failed one. Was told to clench my butt cheeks really hard to get a pass. Another tip was to put a drawing pin into your shoe and push down onto it with your foot as hard s you were able to tolerate. And if you search online there are a few other techniques you can use to ace the tests. Most interesting for me was being told I'd failed a test I was later told I'd passed. It's sheer madness.
Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
71–80 of 201 posts
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#72I took a polygraph twice for an NSA internship (TS/CSI Clearance). It's an interesting process. In the first phase, you go over your security forms (SF-86 and related) in detail with your polygraph examiner. They ask a lot of detailed questions, sometimes including things you aren't legally required to disclose (drug use and foreign travel outside the listed time limits). In the second phase, they hook you up to the…
> the examiner was convinced I used more drugs than I let on No they weren’t. They merely pretended they were convinced. It’s all part of the act to make you nervous.
Possible, but how can you know for sure, if you were not there?
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#73I took a polygraph twice for an NSA internship (TS/CSI Clearance). It's an interesting process. In the first phase, you go over your security forms (SF-86 and related) in detail with your polygraph examiner. They ask a lot of detailed questions, sometimes including things you aren't legally required to disclose (drug use and foreign travel outside the listed time limits). In the second phase, they hook you up to the…
Forgive me for asking if you are uncomfortable saying, but were they correct about your drug use?
I'm coming very close to being 100% eligible for my security clearness but some of those questions would be tricky for me right now.
I've often wondered if I could round 8 years up to 10 to pass a polygraph.
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#74I have no idea why there is not an accurate calibration of polygraphs published. Here's a straightforward calibration: Have the subject write down a random number from 1 to 1024. Perhaps this random number is assigned via a phone app. Have the subject put the paper in his pocket. An maximally accurate polygraph will require no more than 10 questions to determine the number in the subject's pocket. [However, I think w…
Trying to keep a random number secret likely is less stressful than an actual lie. Even if lie detectors worked this wouldn’t be a great approach. My way is better, scrap them for parts and buy beer for whatever is left over.
What about if you keep it secret you get $1000
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the examiner was convinced I used more drugs than I let on No they weren’t. They merely pretended they were convinced. It’s all part of the act to make you nervous.
Possible, but how can you know for sure, if you were not there?
Technically, nobody can know for sure, even someone who was there cannot read minds. But I posit that it’s way more likely that it’s part of the standard intimidation technique used by basically every professional intimidator ever – i.e. pretend to be angry and convinced about the person’s guilt in order to get them to either confess or to break down.
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#76[deleted]
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#77I took a polygraph twice for an NSA internship (TS/CSI Clearance). It's an interesting process. In the first phase, you go over your security forms (SF-86 and related) in detail with your polygraph examiner. They ask a lot of detailed questions, sometimes including things you aren't legally required to disclose (drug use and foreign travel outside the listed time limits). In the second phase, they hook you up to the…
[deleted]
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#78I took a polygraph twice for an NSA internship (TS/CSI Clearance). It's an interesting process. In the first phase, you go over your security forms (SF-86 and related) in detail with your polygraph examiner. They ask a lot of detailed questions, sometimes including things you aren't legally required to disclose (drug use and foreign travel outside the listed time limits). In the second phase, they hook you up to the…
Forgive me for asking if you are uncomfortable saying, but were they correct about your drug use? I'm coming very close to being 100% eligible for my security clearness but some of those questions would be tricky for me right now. I've often wondered if I could round 8 years up to 10 to pass a polygraph.
As far as I've heard, it is more about lying than past use (unless that past is a month ago and was a real bender). Telling them the truth about something that happened 9 years ago isn't likely to get you booted.
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#79The dumbest things about these polygraphs is that you're pretty much forced to lie if you want to pass. Some of the questions were vague and if you are a normal human being without a halo glowing on your head you would fail.
Questions like "Do you love your parents?", "Have you ever spread gossip?", "Have you ever done anything immoral" (My interviewer specified watching pornography as something immoral).
Thankfully my interviewer was much nice and seemed to give me multiple tries, telling me that they might do another one later if I really failed.
Overall the interview process was OK. I guess the only invasive part was when they interviewed my neighbors in person without telling me. (When the FBI comes knocking on your door, you freak out)
I also turned down the internship because the pay was abysmal for IT. $15 an hour.
Re: Why Lie Detector Tests Can’t Be Trusted
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you wanna be a senior sys admin for bed bath and beyond, you 'll be probably getting one. Huh. I was a very senior 'sys admin' type for an enormous retailer for over a decade, and polygraphs never came up for me or anyone else there. Any idea why bed bath and beyond is into such a thing?
My guess is that throwaway's statement was hyperbole, and Bed Bath and Beyond isn't a literal example of an employer that requires a polygraph. Instead it was an exaggeration meant to show how common the practice is in his circles.
I was asked if I have taken polygraph tests, and if I am willing to take one. They didn't follow up with it, but they seemed serious about it.
That was for a contractor position, not regular employment.
PS. Also drug testing.