Exceeding Expectations

If I were asked to take a polygraph, and I want it to work, this is how I would want the test explained to me.  These pages describe what to concentrate on if you want to get the truth from your mind into the computer. Many people focus so intensely on proving they did not do what they are suspected, or accused of, that they forget to pass the test.  It would be better to stop and think, “First of all, I’m here to pass this test.  I’m here to show I really mean what I say.  I’m here to show that when I say no I actually mean never, ever.

1. Good, concerned, truthful people are expected to be nervous.

• A person’s pulse can be over 100 beats a minute, but if that person listens carefully and answers accurately, the polygraph will be truthful. 

• A polygraph is not a nervous detector – it is a lie detector.  The lines on paper are never supposed to be flat and smooth.  In fact, the polygraph lines must move up and down in order to be interpreted as truthful.  The person who is most nervous about every answer being perfect is often the person who looks most truthful on his polygraph.  Liars do not worry about everything being perfect.

• Many people do not seem to have nerves, or conscience, or guilt when they lie.  That makes no difference to detecting a lie with a polygraph.

• You can pass a polygraph test if you listen carefully to every word, each time the list of questions is asked, and you try to answer every question in a literal, factually accurate way.

• Too many people listen to half of a question, and then answer what they think the question should have been, not what was actually asked.  If anywhere on a person’s polygraph there is a doubt about the person answering every question literally, the person cannot pass the test.

• Too many people are loose with what they call the truth.  They think it doesn’t count if they did it a long time ago or if they had a good reason for doing it.  They think they can still be truthful when they say they never did it.  When taking a polygraph, it is necessary for everyone to go to the opposite extreme when answering every question.  “No” is not the truth unless it is 100% literally a fact. Because so many people twist the truth, an examiner has to be extremely particular.  If asked, “Were you ever caught doing something wrong?”, remember a question like that would even include having to stay after school because you were caught talking in class.  Polygraph examiners have to ask questions to find out if the person taking the test understands only an exact literal fact is the truth.

• The person who is most nervous about every answer being perfect is probably the person who looks most truthful on his polygraph.

• Each question on your polygraph will be a test.  The purpose of every question, the reason you are taking the test, is to find out if you really mean exactly what you say.

Accuracy

REMEMBER
Concentrate only on the questions
Think only about the question which has just been asked
Sit still like a statue, don’t even tilt your head or put your chin down.

In every polygraph the first two questions will always be:

1.       Is this the month of ___________?

The examiner will fill in the blank and ask if this is the present month.  If you answer yes, you will, of course, be truthful.

2.       Do you intend to tell even one lie on this test?

The rest of the questions will be written with you for your specific situation.  You will have to let the examiner know if you can answer the questions the way they are worded.  The list of questions will be asked three times, with rest breaks between each time.  The polygraph examiner will pause about 30 seconds between each question.  The examiner will change the order in which the questions are asked, but no new or different questions will be added without your permission.  No question will be asked if you don’t think you can answer it truthfully. 

A truthful person can do one thing that a liar can’t. If he is truthful every conscious and subconscious level of his brain can say absolutely, without hesitation or conflict.  A liar has conflicting thoughts such as: I don’t care how this test comes out; If I don’t care why am I doing it; They can’t use this against me; But, I don’t trust anybody; I don’t know if they are lying to me – Sure they are.

The important part of the polygraph does not happen in the computer or in your body.  It happens in your mind.  A lie detector test is a procedure that you will have to make work, with concentration and effort.  You will have to put aside all distractions.  Forget what you think a polygraph should be like and concentrate on the directions here.