Anonymous wrote:Polygraphs are very controversial, and not used in most developed countries, because they cannot identify lies. They can identify physical responses to stress. The jump from stress to lie is incredibly loose and does not happen for everyone. Someone who overthinks and/or gets easily flustered can give the appearance of lying, and someone who is habitually calm can lie his head off without detection.

It's sad the USA still uses polygraphs.

I 100% agree. It’s psychological torture for the vast majority of people.

Polygraphs are very controversial, and not used in most developed countries, because they cannot identify lies. They can identify physical responses to stress. The jump from stress to lie is incredibly loose and does not happen for everyone. Someone who overthinks and/or gets easily flustered can give the appearance of lying, and someone who is habitually calm can lie his head off without detection.

It's sad the USA still uses polygraphs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a full scope lifestyle poly. The first rule is not to talk about it. You can lose your clearance.

This isn’t for a clearance. It’s private sector. And I’ll take the test, but I will refuse to sign an NDA about the test if that comes up.

Is it even legal for private companies to do you to take a polygraph? I’d be very cautious about this company and do some research.

Here. There are very strict guidelines for certain private companies that are allowed to administer polygraphs and who the results can be shared with. I would ask to see the companies policies for handling of the test and results.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/polygraph

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a full scope lifestyle poly. The first rule is not to talk about it. You can lose your clearance.

This isn’t for a clearance. It’s private sector. And I’ll take the test, but I will refuse to sign an NDA about the test if that comes up.

Is it even legal for private companies to do you to take a polygraph? I’d be very cautious about this company and do some research.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who have had polygraphs are not supposed to discuss with others the nature of the questions..

Hell no. I’m telling anyone who asks, and I’ll even post them here. I’m not exactly thrilled with having to take it, I’m nervous about it, and I’m certainly not going to help the polygraph industry keep their processes a secret. I’ll keep all sorts of secrets for my employers. But I don’t owe polygraphers squat.

Good. They don’t want people talking about them or reading about them because they want to lull you into thinking it’s some scientific, legitimate thing. It’s not.

I wouldn’t take the job.

I’ve been through at least 4 of them. They’re known to be BS at detecting lies. Look up Alrich Ames and Robert Hansen. Both committed espionage for years against the US. Both passed multiple polygraphs.

The polygrapher uses classic police interrogation tactics to make you feel guilty and get you to keep talking, with the goal of eventually having you incriminate yourself.

It’s illegal for US companies to require a polygraph for employment, but there’s a cutout for national security because our country lets those agencies get away with everything. They’re torture and unnecessary for actually catching spies.

I would never in a million years take another polygraph. They are inhumane.

Anonymous wrote:

So what sort of questions do they ask you to tell the difference between a lie and the truth? You discuss the question ahead of time with the polygrapher and collectively determine what "yes" and "no" covers for each question so that you can answer with a clear conscious.


Will they ask questions like have I ever had an affair? Done anything illegal/drugs? Yes to illegal drugs

Stuff to try to embarrass me into lying about it? And what happens if I answer truthfully about embarrassing things? Is the person doing the testing sworn to secrecy or something? If I admit to having affairs during the test, will my H ever find out about it? No.

I’m a pretty good liar when I need to be, but my gut is telling me I should be 100% truthful for the test. I’m just worried about people knowing about my truthful answers.

Polygraphs are less "read your mind and tell when you're lying" and more of a social situation to pressure you into telling the truth and seeing how you react.

Please do post back here after you take it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine any job where your level of fidelity would come into question. It has nothing to do with any job you might perform, so why would they ask such a specific question?

I've never taken a polygraph, but I would assume questions would be more like "have you ever taken anything from the office that does not belong to you" "have you ever lied for your boss" "did you earn a degree from XYZ University" "do you currently use illegal drugs"

Whatever you do OP, just be honest.

I just assumed they’d ask something embarrassing that most people would be inclined to lie about. So they could “catch” you lying about something. I have no idea. My entire knowledge of polygraph tests was gleaned from movies and TV, so that shows you how detached from reality from it I am

A polygraph is not about embarrassing you. Its making sure you disclose everything that could be used to blackmail you. So if you disclose then youre less likely to be blackmailed into sharing sensitive work information. Noone cares if stuff is embarrasing. There will be a lot of base response setting questions at first. A certaib number if peoole ate so nervous they will always fail a polygraph.

Well if I tell the truth and admit to all sorts of sordid stuff in my past, even if I’m not lying about it they might think I’m a blackmail risk anyway. So I’m in a no-win situation if that’s the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're likely to ask about drug use. As for affairs, if you're in a position where you could be subject to blackmail, they may ask about that too. For example, if you're trying out to be a prison guard or a person who handles finances/cash.

It involves finance, yes.

So because I’ve had affairs, I would be seen as a blackmail risk? Even if I told the truth in the test?

The point is, if you've had affairs, then a blakcmailer may threaten to tell your DH unless you do X.

Who, other than the person giving the polygraph test or with access to the questions/answers, would even know or care about my affairs now? I that’s the case, then the blackmail risk is from the test itself. Not the guys I was seeing ten years ago. The test itself seems to create a blackmail risk all by itself, which didn’t otherwise exist before. That’s why I think this whole thing is dumb.

Anonymous wrote:This is for a private company, not a clearance, if I read OP correctly. I would refuse to answer any questions not related to fiduciary responsibilities. I guarantee you they don’t know what they are doing. The most a polygraph can do is tell you that a question upsets you.

That’s kind of what I was thinking - they just see if the question upsets you.

So I’ve been asking myself all sorts of introspective questions this week that I would find embarrassing, I guess trying to prepare my reaction for it. I’m going to be truthful. My whole concern really is if anyone other than the test administrator will have access to the answers. That’s really all I’m worried about. I don’t want my H knowing about things Ive done that are in the past now. I don’t want my kids knowing that mom did lots of drugs and was in some videos in college.

Someone mentioned blackmail earlier… Jeez, the polygraph tester would certainly be able to blackmail me.

Anonymous wrote:I had a full scope lifestyle poly. The first rule is not to talk about it. You can lose your clearance.

This isn’t for a clearance. It’s private sector. And I’ll take the test, but I will refuse to sign an NDA about the test if that comes up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine any job where your level of fidelity would come into question. It has nothing to do with any job you might perform, so why would they ask such a specific question?

I've never taken a polygraph, but I would assume questions would be more like "have you ever taken anything from the office that does not belong to you" "have you ever lied for your boss" "did you earn a degree from XYZ University" "do you currently use illegal drugs"

Whatever you do OP, just be honest.

I just assumed they’d ask something embarrassing that most people would be inclined to lie about. So they could “catch” you lying about something. I have no idea. My entire knowledge of polygraph tests was gleaned from movies and TV, so that shows you how detached from reality from it I am

A polygraph is not about embarrassing you. Its making sure you disclose everything that could be used to blackmail you. So if you disclose then youre less likely to be blackmailed into sharing sensitive work information. Noone cares if stuff is embarrasing. There will be a lot of base response setting questions at first. A certaib number if peoole ate so nervous they will always fail a polygraph.

Anonymous wrote:People who have had polygraphs are not supposed to discuss with others the nature of the questions..

Hell no. I’m telling anyone who asks, and I’ll even post them here. I’m not exactly thrilled with having to take it, I’m nervous about it, and I’m certainly not going to help the polygraph industry keep their processes a secret. I’ll keep all sorts of secrets for my employers. But I don’t owe polygraphers squat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're likely to ask about drug use. As for affairs, if you're in a position where you could be subject to blackmail, they may ask about that too. For example, if you're trying out to be a prison guard or a person who handles finances/cash.

It involves finance, yes.

So because I’ve had affairs, I would be seen as a blackmail risk? Even if I told the truth in the test?

The point is, if you've had affairs, then a blakcmailer may threaten to tell your DH unless you do X.