The
Relevant Issue #140 - 1/16/2008
A Publication of The Polygraph Place
In this issue:
- Odds & Ends - by Ralph Hilliard
- Question Formulation - The Framing of Questions - by Nathan Gordon
- Upcoming Polygraph Association Seminars - by Nadine Hilliard
- In The Private Forums - "Practice your chart scoring skills''
- Polygraph Place Offers - Now through the end of January, Swarovski Scales of Justice Bracelets and Veritas (TRUTH) Tshirts are on sale. Save 30% or more.
1. Odds & Ends - by Ralph Hilliard
The Polygraph Place will be present at this year's National Polygraph Association meeting in Las Vegas next week (see ad below). We encourage you to attend and please be sure to stop by our table so we can meet as many attending as possible.
Other Seminars this year where the Polygraph Place will have a vendor booth include:
- AAPP in Jacksonville, FL.
- APA in Indianapolis, IN.
Fox's new reality TV show "The Moment of Truth" is set to air Wednesday, January 23rd.
If this show turns out to be popular...and I suspect it will, phone call volumes to polygraph examiners will likely increase. I believe there is wisdom as examiners in watching and discussing the show with each other on the polygraph place forums. We are way overdue for having a unified voice to present to the public about polygraph. This could be an opportunity to be on the same page when handling inquiries for polygraph as a result of watching the show.
In case this is the first time you have even heard of the show, you can watch some trailer clips on the fox website: http://www.fox.com/momentoftruth/
Our Polygraph Tshirts have been a huge success. We are in the planning phase for a few more designs and are hoping you can help. Have you ever thought "That would be great on a tshirt" regarding some phrase or situation that came up during your polygraph career? If so, please send those ideas our way. You can drop them in my email box.
Ralph Hilliard - President - The Polygraph Place
P.S. My email box is open, so please keep me informed of any hot polygraph news and I'll do my best to help spread that to others.
The Polygraph Place will be in attendance, please come visit us.
2. Question Formulation - The framing of questions by Nathan Gordon
Like most examiners, I have always found the testing of alleged victims and confirmation tests to be the most difficult of examinations. I always felt that the chances of a False/Positive were greatest performing these examinations due to the possible emotionality that the relevant question might cause, even if the examinee were truthful.
For example, imagine testing an alleged rape victim and asking, “Did you lie about John forcing you to have sex?” If in fact she is lying, we expect a significant psychophysiological response. However, if she is telling the truth, we are asking her to recall a very traumatic event in her life, which in itself may cause a significant psychophysiological response.
I found an article by Richard Widup, Jr., “Administering Polygraph Examinations To Women Who Claim Sexual Assault,” published in the Journal some years ago quite interesting. It dealt with using relevant questions in these types of examinations which elicited “yes” responses, rather than the traditional “no” responses. The paper cited 50 examinations tracked by the U.S. Army CID of women claiming to have been sexually assaulted. “Did you lie about John forcing you to have sex?” now became, “Did John force you to have sex?”
The conclusion of the paper was that “yes” answered relevant questions in confirmatory tests “had a higher likelihood of resolution, and no effect on the testing outcome.” “It is recommended that the Department of Defense recognize and approve soliciting “yes” answers in confirmatory tests.”
In using the Integrated Zone Comparison technique I have often used “Did you lie about whether you did the crime?” as my third relevant question in order to keep the examination a single issue using three relevant questions (“Did you….?” Regarding….did you?” and “Did you lie about whether you ….?”) I often found that the “lie” question created the greatest psychophysiological reactions in all examinees.
On August 7, 2006, USA Today printed a story about a study conducted at the University College London by Dr. Benedetto De Martino. Using fMRI scanning the brain of 20 subjects was monitored while they were asked questions concerning whether or not to gamble. When they were told they could keep 40% of their money if they gambled vs. they could lose 60% if they gambled, although both equate to the same thing, the latter negatively framed question caused much greater activity in the amygdale. The amygdale is a neural region in the brain that processes strong emotions such as fear.
This may explain why relevant questions that are negatively framed, such as “Did you lie…?” create greater psychophysiological responses in our examinations, which could explain the earlier findings of Widup and his support of relevant questions being answered “yes” in confirmatory examinations. Although this area needs more exploration, it appears we as examiners should be very cautious in using questions that are framed negatively.
Nathan J. Gordon
Director
Academy for Scientific Investigative Training
www.polygraph-training.com
3. Upcoming Polygraph Association Seminars by Nadine Hilliard
If you are the seminar chairperson for your assocation, please send Nadine info for your next seminar as soon as you have it available. Thanks so much. Help us help you spread the word about your next training session or business meeting.
Seminar Dates Association(s) Location Contact 1/21 - 1/23/2008 National Polygraph Assoc. Las Vegas, NV Gary Davis 1/26 - 1/27/2008 Northwest Poly Examiners Assoc.
Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, CanadaHood River, OR Terry Ball 2/1 - 2/2/2008 New Mexico Polygraph Association Albuquerque, NM Ralph Trotter 3/12 - 3/14/2008 Kentucky Polygraph Assoc.
Kentucky, TennesseeGatlinburg, TN Rick Kurtz 5/19 - 5/23/2008 American Assoc. of Police Polygraphists Jacksonville, FL Karen Clark 8/17 - 8/22/2008 American Polygraph Association Indianapolis, IN Robbie Bennett 9/3 - 9/5/2008 Tri-State Polygraph Assoc.
Kansas, Missouri, NebraskaBranson, MO John Hurlock YOUR SEMINAR - LET US KNOW -Nadine
(The Polygraph Place)
4. In the Private Forums - "Practice your chart scoring skills''
A partial post from the examiner only private forums:
"In response to the recent discussion about high numbers in the SIP thread. Here is a test for discussion. I'm curious about the range of numbers we all get when looking at something like this."
*** Several sets of charts have now been posted in the private forum for practice scoring and discussion. We would love your input too.***
What? Not yet a member of the FREE private forums for examiners only?
The private forums now have so many examiners registered I just stopped keeping count. The wealth of knowledge, information and wisdom that has amassed here is staggering. If you are an examiner, come and be part of this growing community.Registration is a three step process.
1. Fill out the registration form.
2. After submitting the form, you will receive an email from the automated system with a username and password. Forward that email to me (support@polygraphplace.com) and include proof that you are an examiner. License, School, Department, Association Memberships, etc. If you do not provide something that we can independantly verify, you will not be given access.
3. Be patient. We have to verify your information and once we have, we'll authorize your login and be in contact with you.
5. Polygraph Place Offers - Through the end of January
Visit the Polygraph Place Store
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