I awhile back I used to do work with a major DARPA contractor. If you're familiar with security clearance for these roles, you know that at the higher levels of clearance you eventually need to take a polygraph exam.
I was never interested in going the clearance route, but got into a conversation with a grizzled industry vet that seemed like a character torn from a hard-boiled detective novel.
At the time I had recently learned that polygraph exams were "fake" and when the topic of the exam came up I was quick to point this out. His comment surprised me, and, in a sense, demonstrated to me that saying a polygraph is "fake" is akin to saying WWE wrestling is "fake". Of course it is, but that is a misunderstanding that what you're watching is a real performance.
He said the polygraph itself is just a tool for the interviewer. The real value was in someone who knew how to use the machine to convince the subject that they knew the truth. He continue that in his time he knew some mighty good interviewers who could easily extract anything they needed from you.
My father did go the clearance route, and when I asked him about the polygraph he told me he confessed things to the interviewers he would never have told my mother. "Fake" or "real" the polygraph does work in this sense.
I was never interested in going the clearance route, but got into a conversation with a grizzled industry vet that seemed like a character torn from a hard-boiled detective novel.
At the time I had recently learned that polygraph exams were "fake" and when the topic of the exam came up I was quick to point this out. His comment surprised me, and, in a sense, demonstrated to me that saying a polygraph is "fake" is akin to saying WWE wrestling is "fake". Of course it is, but that is a misunderstanding that what you're watching is a real performance.
He said the polygraph itself is just a tool for the interviewer. The real value was in someone who knew how to use the machine to convince the subject that they knew the truth. He continue that in his time he knew some mighty good interviewers who could easily extract anything they needed from you.
My father did go the clearance route, and when I asked him about the polygraph he told me he confessed things to the interviewers he would never have told my mother. "Fake" or "real" the polygraph does work in this sense.