Your thoughts on lie detectors

[malenko]

Just watching some clips of the steve wilkos show. For those playing at home steve is a body guard from the jerry springer show who now has his own show. He was dealing with 6 girls accused of beating up another woman in a bar and they made them all sit a lie detector test.

Does any one else have a problem with the lie detector tests they seem to throw around so often on these shows? From what I understand about them they can in no way detect a lie, only when the subject is feeling particularly stressed. So why are they still called lie detectors?

[Barfrangipani]

Because people still think they work, and they are a cheap way of manufacturing drama for shitty tv shows

[malenko]

Yeah that's what I think of them too, its just a cheap ploy to extract drama out of a relatively dull story.

Here is a quote from a guy commenting on book about lie detectors in the cia

I do want to correct two impressions that Sullivan leaves, however. First, he repeats the standard Agency mantra concerning the polygraph—that it is only one of the weapons in the investigative arsenal of the CIA. Four groups in the Agency dispute this: the polygraphers, who believe that it is the definitive vessel of absolute truth; the case officers, who believe that it is designed only to harass, impede, and frustrate their operations; field managers, who mistrust it; and Headquarters managers, who consider it to be the defining vessel of absolute truth. Deviations from the mantra lead to many of the confrontations that Sullivan describes so accurately in Of Spies and Lies.

taken from here, looks to be interesting.

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...article09.html

[Batten]

all i can think about is this

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-TZ8Z5S9rI]YouTube - The Simpsons - Lie Detector[/ame]

[Desmo]

60% of the time they work all of the time.

[malenko]

Haha so true desmo I will look into it further when I get back from the pub tonight, it seems to be a pretty interesting topic

[perdition]

not legally (binding) here, like a dyno alot depends on the quality of the operator , im sure manufacturers of lie detectors will tell you they work great - numerous instances of people failing/passing the detector when they should not have

[Skut]

They measure physiological reactions, usually related to stress. If you are going to lie then (if asked a question) change the question in your head and answer THAT one. If you were a true sociopath you would believe anything you said/thought so would probably fool any test because YOU believe it. Lie detectors for the average person are shite, look up 'white coat hypertension'

[SOLID]

I use these at uni (Psychology and Law) and they are very unreliable. The big problem is they measure electrical impulses from the skin. The more u lie the more u sweat and the better your body conducts the electrical impulses, so the theory is that when lie the machine picks up the impulses easier. But as u can imagine there are so many variables to take into account that make a person sweat, making it hard to get a true reading. The legal system doesn't use them for this reason.

[Kickass Koola]

Not admissible in Australian court systems as the detector can be overcome using a variety of techniques. What barfy said.

[xphread]

The only people who should be scared of lie detectors are criminals!!!!!!!




(In my eyes, polygraphs sit just slightly above alchemy and homeopathy.)