POLYGRAPHY

-Philtop_05-
“Deceiving others is an essential
part of everyday social
interaction” (Aldert Vrij, 2000)
Why lie?
motivations for lying
◦ Lie to benefit another
◦ Lie for affiliation
◦ Lie to protect privacy
◦ Lie to avoid conflict
◦ Lie to appear better (self promotion)
◦ Lie to protect self
◦ Lie to benefit self
◦ Lie to harm another (malicious intent)
◦ Lie for amusement (duping)
Lying is common
 DePaulo & Kashy (1998): the average person lied to 34% of the
people with whom she/he interacted in a typical week.

 Hample (1980) respondents reported lying an avg. of 13 times per

week.

 DePaulo & Bell (1996) Married couples lied in 1 out of 10 interactions

with their partners.

 DePaulo & Kashy (1988): college students lied to their mothers in half
of their conversations

 Robinson, Shepherd, & Heywood (1998): 83% of respondents said

they would lie in order to get a job.

Hmm…what if the people surveyed in these

studies were lying?
The psychology of lying
a person’s fear, anxieties
and apprehensions are channeled
toward the situation which evoke
his instinct of self-preservation
to struggle out from the
consequences of the wrong he
had already done.
 Kinds of Lies
White lie or Benign lie
Pathological lie
Red lie
Black lie
Malicious or judicious lie
White lie or Benign lie

the most
common kind of
lie intended to
protect and
maintain harmony
of friendship, at
home or
anywhere.
Pathological lie
made by
person who could
not distinguish
right from wrong.
it must be said
that those person
are mentally sick
or low caliber.
Red lie
involves political interest
and motives because this
is part of communist
propaganda strategy.
this lie is prevalent in
communist countries.
this is to destroy other
ideologies by means of
propaganda-brain-washing
and black-mail via
espionage and treason.
Black lie

a lie
accompanies
pretensions and
hypocrisies,
intriguing to cause
dishonor of
discredit one’s
good image.
Malicious or judicious lie
a very pure
and unjustifiable
kind lie.
this is
intended purely to
mislead justice.
the probable
result would be
perjury and pure
dishonesty to
obstruct justice.
In which picture is the female
genuinely happy?
A C

B D
Known methods of
Deception Detection
 Ancient methods
 Observation methods
 Regular police methods
 Hypnotism
 Word Association test
 Narco-Hypnosis and
Narcoanalysis (truth serum)
 Intoxication
 Psychological Stress Evaluator
 Brain Wave Fingerprinting
 Polygraph Test Technique
Ancient methods
 Red hot iron ordeal
 Ordeal by balance
 Boiling water or Water test
ordeal
 Sacred ass ordeal
 Trial by Combat
Red hot iron ordeal-the accused person would carry a burning
hot iron so many paces without being burned to prove their
innocence.
Ordeal by balance- weighing an accused individual against pure
substances to assess their guilt or innocence.
Boiling Water-required the accused person to put their hand into a pot of
boiling water to retrieve an object.
Trial by the Sacred Ass-was a common psychologically based means of detecting
deception in India around 500BC. In this test a donkey was placed in the
centre of a pitch-dark tent. All the suspects were told to enter the tent and to
pull the tail of the donkey. If they remained quiet, the suspect was truthful.
Trial by combat-(also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of
Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which
two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to
be right.
Observation methods
 Sweating
 Language that deflects away from
self
 Speech hesitations and pauses
 Increase in the number of shrugs
 Breath holding
 Reduced use of hand gestures
 Dry mouth
 Avoidance of direct eye contact
 Trembling
Regular police methods
 The 5w’s and 1 h
 The 3 I’s of Investigation
Information
Interview/interrogation
Instrumentation
Scientific Interrogation
Interrogation is the
questioning of a person
suspected of having committed
an offense or of person who are
reluctant to make a full disclosure
or information in his possession
that is pertinent to the
investigation. It maybe done on a
suspect or witness.
Goals of Interrogation
The learn truth of the crime;
To obtain an admission of guilt
from the suspect;
To obtain all facts to determine
the method of operation and the
circumstances of the crime in
question
To gather information that
enables investigators to arrive at
logical conclusion.
Three (3) Defense Mechanism
(RPM’s)
 Rationalization – Rationalize
subject’s action
 Projection – Project the blame
unto the others
 Minimization – minimize the
crime
Confession
- is an expressed acknowledgement
by the accused in a criminal case of the
truth of his guilt as to the crime charges,
or of some essential thereof.
- is different from admission,
although admission includes, as one of
its species, confession.
- is a statement of guilt while
admission is usually a statement of fact
by the accused, which does not directly
involve an acknowledgement of guilt of
the accused.
Kinds of confession
1. Extra-judicial confession - is a
confession made outside of the
court prior to the trial of the
case.
2. Judicial Confession - This is a
confession of an accused in
court. It is conclusive upon the
court and may be considered to
be a mitigating circumstance to
criminal liability
Kinds of Extra-judicial
Confession
1. Voluntary Extra-judicial Confession – The
confession is voluntary when the accused speaks of his
free will and accord, without inducement of any kind,
and with a full and complete knowledge of the nature
and consequence of the confession, and when the
speaking is so free from influences affecting the will of
the accused, at the time the confession was made that
it renders it admissible in evidence against him.
2. Involuntary Extra-judicial Confession –
Confessions obtained trough force, threat, intimidation,
duress or anything influencing the voluntary act of the
confessor.

“Confessions obtained from the defendant by

means of force and violence is null and void, cannot be
used against him at the trail.”
 Hypnotism
- Introduced by Franz Anton
Mezmer in 1778
- It refers to the alteration of
consciousness and concentration
in which the subject manifest a
heightened state of suggestibility
while awareness is being
maintained.
Word Association test
- a method of deception
detection which was introduced
in 1879 by Sir Francis Galton.
- This process is done by
giving the subject a list of
carefully selected stimulus
objects interspaced with other
relevant objects.
 Narco-Hypnosis and
Narcoanalysis (truth serum)
- Introduced by
Dr. Edward Mandel
House.
- This method
involves intravenous
injection or oral
taking of various
drugs such as
sodium amytal and
sodium penthotal
to reliably produce
truthfulness.
Intoxication
- This method employs
alcoholic beverages as stimuli to
obtain the truth.

- Confessions and Admissions

made by the subject while
intoxicated is admissible if he is
physically able to recollect the
facts and state them truly and
exactly.
Psychological Stress
Evaluator
- Also known as Voice
Stress Analysis that is based on
the use of a certain machine
developed in the late 1960’s that
presumably detects “guilt-
revealing ” laryngeal micro-
tremors which exist in the voice
and are associated with stress
and lying.
Allen Bell Jr. and Charles
McQuiston
In 1972, American inventors
who developed a device called
Psychological Stress Evaluator
(PSE).
Brain Wave Fingerprinting
- A method that looks at a
specific type of electrical brain
wave called P300 which
activates when a person sees a
familiar object.
- In Iowa, United States, the
judges are fond of admitting this
technique.
- Invented by Lawrence
Farwell.
Polygraph Test
Technique
- It is scientific method of
detecting deception with the aid
of the polygraph instrument. It is
administered by asking questions
to the subject to the case under
investigation.
- It records the following:
Blood Pressure/Pulse beats
Respiration
Galvanic –Skin Reflex
What is a Polygraph
Machine
- It is known as a combination
of the two Greek words Poly which
means “many” and graphos which
means “”writing chart”

- Its is defined as a scientific

instrument especially designed to
record psycho-physiological
changes that occur within the body
especially of lying when questioned
Terms to ponder…
 Psychology – the behavioral study of
characteristics of a person.
 Deception – an act of deceiving or misleading
usually accomplished by lying.
 Lying – the uttering or convening of falsehood or
creating false impression with the intention of
affecting the acts or opinion of others.
 Detection – the act of discovering the existence of
the fact of something hidden or obscured.
 Emotion – the state of mind in which feeling,
sentiment or attitude is predominant.
 Fear – the emotional response to specific dangers
that appears to be potentially beyond a person’s
defensive power.
Terms to ponder…
 Stimulus – the force or motion reaching the organism
and excites the receptors.
- anything that arouses the organism
- in Polygraph examination it will be in a form of
a question.
 Reaction – any activity aroused in an organism by a
stimulus.
 Examiner/polygraphist – the one conducting the
Polygraph examination.
 Subject/Examinee – the person undergoing Polygraph
examination.
 Chart/Polygrams – the composite record of the
pnuemograph, galvanograph, cardiosphygmograph
tracing recorded from one series of questions.
 Specific response – one that exhibited by the subject to
a particular question which is a deviation from his norm.
The polygraph measures and records
several physical responses such as
blood pressure, respiration, skin
conductivity, and pulse based of a
series of questions.
Within the U.S. federal government a
polygraph examination is also
referred to as a psycho
physiological detection of
deception (PDD) examination.
History
 The idea physical
reactions to lying started
in West Africa. People
suspected of a crime
passed a bird's egg to one
another. Whoever broke
the egg was accused of
the crime, believing that
their nervousness caused
them to drop the egg.
 Early devices include
Cesar Lombroso’s 1885
invention that measured
change in blood pressure,
and Vittorio Benussi’s
1914 invention which
measured breathing
The term
polygraph was
coined by James
Mackenzie in
1906.
He first tried his
invention: “the
ink polygraph”
for medical uses.
Richard O. Archer (1953)
The first polygraphist to
record simultaneously on
regular basis the chest and
abdominal breathing
patterns. He was also the first
on to record simultaneously two
galvanic skin reflexes.
In 1966 he founded the
Journal of polygraph Science,
the oldest of the polygraph
publications.
Richard I. Golden (1969)
He presented a paper at the Annual
Seminar of American Polygraph
Association at Houston, Texas regarding
his experiments using existing control
question techniques but requiring the
subject to answer each question twice.
The first time truthfully and the
second time with lie, for the purpose or
requiring additional psyco- physiological
data from the examinee by comparing his
subjective truthful answer with known lie
to the same question.
General components of a
Polygraph Machine

 Cardiograph/Cardio-
sphymograph
 Galvanograph
 Pneumograph
 Kymograph
 Cardiograph/Cardio-
sphymograph
- it is a
blood pressure
cuff wrapped
around the
subject’s upper
arm and
inflated to
suitable air
pressure.
 This section records the
examinee’s pulse wave
amplitude, pulse rate, relative
blood pressure, and changes in
each of these variables through
the use of a blood pressure cuff
and bladder.
The examiner determines the
examinee’s normal
cardiovascular activity, and
monitors the changes that occur
Men behind its creation
Angelo Mosso
- studied fear and its
influence to the heart and
developed a type of
sphygmonometer.
Cesare Lombroso
- Known as the first person to
use a scientific instrument for the
purpose of detecting lies.
- developed the
Dr. William Moulton Marston
- Conducted numerous test for detecting
deception utilizing the changes in Systolic
Blood Pressure.
- He was later considered as the Father
of Polygraphy.

John Larson
- devised an instrument capable of
simultaneously recording blood pressure
changes, pulse rate and respiration.
- developed the bread board lie detector.
Galvanograph
- It is a set of
electrodes attached
to the fingers of the
subject.
- Galvanic Skin
Response is a
measure of
physiological arousal
determination by the
amount of decrease
in the skin’s
resistance to
electricity.
Men behind its creation
Luigi Galvani
- Invented the Galvanometer
which records bodily resistance or
GSR in 1791.
Sticker
- first suggested the use
Galvanograph for detecting deception.
Veraguth
- first to use the term
“Psychogalvanic skin reflex”.
Pneumograph
- a rubberized
corrugated tube,
which is attached
to the subject’s
chest and
abdomen.
- it detects air
volume changes
in the chest
through the
breathing cycles.
Men behind its creation
Vittorio Benussi
- Noted the change in
respiration and expiration ration
during deception
Harold Burt
- Determine that respiratory
changes were indicative of
deception.
Kymograph
- an essential
component of the
Polygraph.
- a paper drive or paper
fed mechanism which is
powered by a motor.
- the motor propel the
charts along at a calibrated
speed(6 inches per minute)
to facilitate uniform and
valid interpretations of
results.
Men behind its creation
Leonarde
Keeler
- devised
the kymograph
and rolled paper
chart.
The Instruments it
self…
Dr. David Raskin and Dr.
John Kircher developed the first
U.S. made commercial polygraph
system,which was introduced by
Stoelting in 1991.
The research for the
computerized polygraph
instrument was conducted at the
University of Utah by Dr. Raskin
and Dr. Kircher, with a grant from
the National Institute of Justice.
Four phases involved in the
conduct of a Polygraph Test
Initialinterview with the
investigator
Pre-test interview
Polygraph examination
Post-test
Ideal room for Polygraph
Examination
It must be spacious for the
person
It must be well-lighted
It must not be decorated
It must be 90% sound proof
Must be well ventilated
Qualification of a subject for
Polygraph Examination
 He must have a good sleep
 He must refrain from smoking for at least 2
hours prior to the examination
 No prolonged interrogation prior to the test
 Have not been subjected to physical abuse or
contact
 Refrain from drinking alcohol beverages,
sedatives, stimulants, narcotics and other drugs.
 Not suffering from any temporary illness such as
headache, toothache, stomachache, fever,
menstruation, severe colds, and cough.
 Must not be hungry
Nature of Test question
formulation
- test questions plays a
critical part for the whole test
procedure.
- all questions must be
framed in words or terminology
that are most familiar to the
subject.
- great consideration must be
observed when local dialect be
employed as a medium for the
 General rules in question
formulation
Questions must be simple and direct
 It must not involve legal terminologies; e.g. rape,
murder or arson.
 It must be answerable by “yes” or “no” and
should be short as possible.
 It must not be in the form of accusation
 It must never contain an influence which
presupposes knowledge on the part of the
subject.
 All questions must refer only to one element of an
offense.
 It must not contain inferences to one’s religion,
race or belief.
Development of Questioning
Technique
1. Leonarde Keeler (1950) – He developed the
“relevant – irrelevant” test. The theory of this test
is that guilty reacts only to relevant questions and
innocent shows no reactions. Keeler is also credited
with introducing the “card test” and specialized in
“peak of tension test”

2. John E. Reid (1950) – He developed the “reviewed

control question” consisting of a known lie
incorporated in to relevant – irrelevant test. The theory
of the test is to stimulate the innocent subject, to
identify the general nervous tension and guilt complex
reactor and to improve contract between innocent and
guilty subjects. He also discovered the “guilt –
complex test” administered to the overly responsive
subject.
Development of Questioning
Technique
3. Cleve Backster (1960) –
Backster conceived the
psychological sit theory that forms
the basis of his zone of comparison
technique that provides constant
monitoring of the subjects reactivity
and designed to disclose outside
issue.
This is known as the “Backster
Zone Comparision Test”.
General types of Test
questions
1. Irrelevant questions
2. Relevant questions
3. Control questions
4. knowledge questions
5. Evidence-connecting questions
6. Sacrifice-DYAT questions
7. Guilt-complex questions
8. Symptomatic questions
9. SKY questions
Irrelevant questions
- these are questions that
have no bearing to the case
under investigation.
- these may refer to the
subject’s age, educational
attainment, status and etc.
- intended to establish
subject’s physiological norm and
to lessen the excitement stage
produced by relevant question.
Relevant questions
- questions pertaining to the
issue under investigation.
- they must be unambiguous,
un equivocal and understandable to
the subject.
- must be very specific to
obtain accurate result.
- these are primary or key
question ask by the examiner in
order to solve a specific issue.
Relevant Question is classified
into two:
1. Strong relevant or Primary or
Crucial Question – These questions
are intended and created to test for
direct participation only and
specifically designed to produce an
emotional response in guilty subject.
2. Weak Relevant or Secondary
Question – These are questions
concern in several secondary aspects
of the crime or problem and often deal
with guilty knowledge and partial
Control questions
(Probable Lie)
these questions compare
the physiological response to
relevant questions about the
crime with the response to
questions relating to possible
prior misdeeds.
designed to produce
response in the innocent
subject.
Control Question is classified
into two:
1. Primary Control Question is based
on known lie. It must concern about
actions that transpired within three (3)
to five (5) years time prior to case
under investigation occurred.
2. Secondary Control Question is
more precise in nature and is based
on another experience of unlawful
activity, which will improve the
chance for responsiveness.
Knowledge questions
designed to prove whether
the subject possesses
information regarding the
identity of the offender or
location of evidence or facts of
the case under investigation.

E.g.
Do you know for sure who stole
the money?
Evidence-connecting
questions
designed to stimulate the
guilty subject and focus his
attention on the probability of
incriminating proof that would
tend to establish his guilt.

E.g.
Where the footprints found at the
crime scene your?
Sacrifice or DYAT
Question
- This is intended to obtain
responses usually produced
by the introduction of the
first relevant question in the
sequence.
- These divulge the subject’s
norm plus stimulus and
excitement stage.
Guilt-complex
questions
a specialized control
question designed to safeguard
against mistaking relevant
questions response and is based
on a fictitious crime under
investigation.
Symptomatic questions
designed to detect and
evaluate the presence of
outside issues, which may
suppose response to relevant
questions.

E.g.
Are you now fully convinced, that
I will not ask you any question,
which we have reviewed?
SKY Question
- These are three groups of
question place by Backster and
they are intended to verify the
previous charts and detect
indirect participation or
guilty knowledge.
The “S” stands for
“suspect”; the “K” stands for
“know”; and the “Y” stands for
“you”.
Types of Questions formulated
for Polygraph Examination
 General Question Test
 John Reid and Fred Inbau Relevant and Irrelevant
Technique
 Backster Zone Comparison
 Quadri Zone Comparison
 Quinque-zone Comparison
 Supplementary Test
 Peak of Tension Test
 Guilt Complex Test
 Silent Answer Test
 Card Test
 Mixed Question Test
 The “Yes” Test
General Question Test
- Consist of a series of relevant
questions asked in a planned
order.

- it is so arranged as to make
possible to a comparison of
responses to relevant questions
with the subject’s norm.
Reid and Inbau Relevant and
Irrelevant Technique
1. Irrelevant question
2. Irrelevant question
3. Weak relevant
4. Irrelevant question
5. Strong relevant question
6. Primary control question
7. Irrelevant question
8. Evidence-connecting question
9. Knowledge question
10. Secondary-control question
1. Irrelevant question
- Have you ever been called by the name
Pedro?
2. Irrelevant question
- Do you drink water?
3. Weak relevant
- Were you in the vicinity of Jolina
Walangdangal’s house between 10:00 and
12:00 pm last night?
4. Irrelevant question
- Did you finish college?
5. Strong relevant question
- Did you steal the necklace of Jolina
Walangdangal?
6. Primary control question
- Before reaching the age of 25, have you
ever stolen anything
7. Irrelevant question
- Are you married?
8. Evidence-connecting question
- Were the fingerprints in the jewelry box
of Jolina Walangdangal yours?
9. Knowledge question
- Do you know for sure who stole the
necklace the necklace of Jolina Walangdangal?
10. Secondary-control question
- Have you ever stolen anything from this
locality?
Backster Zone Comparison
Standardized technique
incorporating relevant/irrelevant
questions,
to identify any outside issue
factor that might interfere with
the test, conceived the
psychological set theory and the
anticlimax dampening concept,
which form a basis of his zone
comparison.
1. Irrelevant question
2. Sacrifice relevant question
3. Symptomatic question
4. Control question
5. Strong relevant question
6. Control question
7. Strong relevant question
8. Symptomatic question
9. Guilt question
10. Weak relevant question
11. S-K-Y question
Quadri-zone Comparison
- provide mechanism for the
identification of “inside issue”
factors that adversely affect the
control question, permitting
timely corrective measures.
1. Irrelevant question-neutral
2. Relevant question-weak
3. Symptomatic question
4. Control question-strong
5. Relevant question-strong
6. Control question-strong
7. Relevant question-strong
8. Control question-variable strength
9. Relevant question-variable strength
10.Symptomatic question
11.Relevant question-weak
Quinque-zone
Comparison
a degradation of the Quadri-
zone comparison technique in
that three relevant questions
are included in the test instead of
the usual two.
plus one additional
control question to compare
against the third relevant
question.
1. Irrelevant question – neutral
2. Relevant question – medium strength
3. Symptomatic question
4. Control question – strong
5. Relevant question – strong
6. Control question – strong
7. Relevant question – strong
8. Control question – strong
9. Relevant question – strong
10. Relevant question – medium strength
11. Relevant question – variable strength
12. Symptomatic question
13. Relevant question – weak
Peak of Tension Test
- it is only made possible when
there is no widespread
publicity about crime where
intimate detail as to the method
of commission of certain facts of
the case is only known by the
perpetrator, the victim and
the investigator.
- It is answerable by NO only.
Guilt Complex Test
- It is applied when the
response to relevant and
control question are similar in
degree and consistency and in a
way that the examiner cannot
determine whether the subject is
telling the truth or not.
Silent Answer Test

- It is conducted in the same

manner as when relevant,
irrelevant and control questions
are asked.
- but the subject is instructed
to answer the questions silently,
to himself, without making any
verbal response.
CHART MARKINGS,
INTERPRETATION AND PROBING

Marking are made with the

use of sign and symbols to
facilitate evaluate and
interpretation in charts.
Chart marking plays a vital
role in polygraph technique.
Merely one of the two seconds
off on chart markings can
immediately generate
misinterpretation,
Signs and symbols used in
chart marking
X – Beginning
 XX – Ending
 PJ – Paper Jam
 OSN – Outside Noise
 CT – Clearing Throat
T – Subject Talk
B – Burp
R – Repeat
A – Adjustment
 DB – Deep Breath
C – Coughing
Signs and symbols used in chart
marking
SN – Sniff
L – Laugh
SW – Swallow
 – – Negative Answer
 + – Positive Answer
M – Movement
Y – Yawn
S – Sigh
/ / – Stimulus
MRH – Movement of right hand
MLH – Movement of left hand
Chart Interpretation
Considerations in the Chart
Interpretation:
1. Accuracy of Instrumental
Detection of Deception
2. Keynotes to Accurate Chart
Interpretation
3. Cardinal Rule in Chart
Interpretation
Accuracy of Instrumental
Detection of Deception
The accurateness of
instrumental deception detection
is dependent upon the
examiner’s capability to
diagnose truth or deception
by reading and interpreting
the chart of the subject.
Keynotes to Accurate Chart
Interpretation
“The keynote to accurate
chart interpretation is the
question formulation”.
If a relevant question is
phrased and delivered properly, to
determine its particular purpose, it
will influence subject’s fight or flight
mechanism in a manner, which will
make chart interpretation easy.
Cardinal Rule in Chart
Interpretation
“Any change from normal
requires an explanation”.

A smart examiner would

want to be right in his
interpretation of chart tracings.
He must be right; law
objectivity goes out of the window
and subjectively reigns.
There are rules to be followed in
the Chart Interpretation
There must be a specific response.
To be a specific response, the
response must from deviation from
norm.
It must appear in at least two (2)
test charts.
The best indication of deception is
the simultaneous specific responses
in the three (3) tracing of the chart.
Chart Probing
Every after the taking of each
chart, probing should be conducted.
The examiner shows the recorded
result with brief explanation as to the
importance of the recorded reactions.
He points out the difference
between reactions accompanying
relevant question and irrelevant
questions.
The examiner informs the subjects that
the probing being done is essential, in order
to attain the test objective.
PURPOSE OF CHART
PROBING
1. To determine the reason of the
recorded responses.
2. To composed an overly stimulated
subject,
3. To clarify confusion that might have
been caused by the questions asked.
4. To convince a doubtful subjects who
may be testing the instrument or the
competence of the examiner.
5. To re-stimulate a subjects who has little
response or no response at all.
6. To know the cause or origin of a flat
or unemotional chart.
7. To gain additional information –
essential to any specific issues.
8. To set the stage for the following
chart by correcting the given
questions that need rephrasing.
9. To sustain a kind psychological
pressure.
10.To confirm whether or not subject
has been truthful in answering the
questions asked during the test.
CAN A PERSON BE COMPELLED TO
BE SUBJECTED TO THE POLYGRAPH
EXAMINATION?
In as much as the test
requires the subject to answer
question either by “yes or “no” it
infers the use of intelligence an
attention or other mental
faculties which is self-
incriminatory
therefore, a person
cannot be compelled to be
subjected to the test.
ERROS IN POLYGRAPH
EXAMINATION

1. FALSE POSITIVE occurs if the

truthful subject is reported to be
deceptive.
2. FALSE NEGATIVE occurs if the
deceptive subject is reported to
be truthful.
 God Bless
and
Good day!

Philtop_05