The Polygraph and Lie Detection
Abstract
In the following essay I am going to:
Explain what does the term ‘reliability’ mean while talking about polygraph lie detection;
Single out several aspects of polygraph lie detection reliability;
Discuss pro`s and con`s of using polygraph lie detector in the light of its reliability;
The Polygraph and Lie Detection
Polygraph deception detection is sometimes used in criminal trials or other life occasions. There are lots of supporters and critics of using this very device and technology, who present several arguments to support their claims and one of the hottest discussion is concerning the issue of polygraph reliability. That is the reason why we should clear up the notion of reliability in the light of polygraph lie detection.
“ The term reliability is generally used to indicate repeatability across different times, places, subjects, and experimental conditions.” (The Polygraph and Lie Detection, p.29). Still the very notion of reliability has several aspects or, to say so, components. They are test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. In order to characterize shortly every aspect of reliability, I would like to mention that test-retest reliability is “the extent to which the same measurement procedure used to examine the same subject for the same purpose yields the same result on repetition” (p.30); inter-rater reliability is “the extent to which different examiners would draw the same conclusions about a given subject at a given time for a given examination” (p.30); and internal consistency means that polygraph shows the same physical reactions of examinee while they answering some relevant questions. These three aspects give us a full pattern of reliability which, after clearing up its aspects, may be defined as “a …