How to Pass a Polygraph

Note: This is the fourth page of explicit suggestions for how to pass a polygraph test. The first is Passing a Polygraph, and the first page of the entire discussion is here: Pass a Polygraph or Else. This page cover physiological countermeasures you can take in order to influence the results of the test.

The idea behind physiological countermeasures is to have stronger physiological responses to "control" questions.

Irrelevant Questions

To properly apply physiological countermeasures, you have to identify which of the three types each question is. The irrelevant questions are obvious. "Is today Saturday?" is an example of one, or "Are you sitting down?"
In theory (and in the explanation to you, perhaps) these are used to determine your, "baseline response." In practice they are often just "filler," used to separate the responses of the control questions and the relevant questions.

Relevant Questions

The relevant questions are usually not too difficult to identify. If you are being questioned about a theft, for example, they may include questions like, "Were you involved in this theft?" and "Do you know who stole the money?" They are the questions that are relevant to the reason you are being tested.

Control Questions

The control questions asked during a polygraph test can be trickier to identify. They will often be vague, as in, "Did you ever cheat in school?" or "Have you ever hidden the truth from your boss?" The idea here is to make you uncomfortable, so there is a measurable difference in the response between these and the irrelevant questions -- whether or not you lie.

The polygraph examiner scores your test by comparing your physiological responses to these control questions to your physiological responses to the relevant questions. If your reaction to a relevant question is greater than to the control questions, the answer is deemed "deceptive." If you have less of a reaction, you are assumed to be telling the truth. If your reaction is about the same to both, the result is classified as "inconclusive."

You have to look at the whole context of the examination, however, to determine which are the control questions. For example, "Have you ever taken anything from the workplace?" might be a control question in a polygraph done for a criminal matter. If, however, you were taking a pre-employment polygraph test, this could be a relevant question.

Just remember that in general, control questions are those which almost anyone could answer "yes" to, but which would make almost anyone feel uneasy about answering. Also, you will normally be shown the questions to be asked before you take the test. You should try identifying which type each question is at this time.

This discussion on how to pass a polygraph test continues with several explicit suggestions on how to use physiological countermeasures here... Pass a Lie Detector Test

Beat a Lie Detector Test | How to Pass a Polygraph