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FBI File of Lie Detector's Creator
George Maschke writes, "It appears that the FBI considered William Moulton Marston (1893-1947), who invented the lie detector and created the comic book character Wonder Woman under the pseudonym Charles Moulton, to be a 'phony' and a 'crackpot.' He is alleged to have misrepresented the result of a study he conducted for the Gillette razor company in 1938, for which he reportedly received some $30,000, a handsome sum in those days. Despite these misgivings, the FBI today uses Marston's creation (the polygraph, not the Lasso of Truth) to guide investigations as well as to screen applicants and employees. You can download Marston's FBI file here (736 KB PDF)."
Polygraphs are already inadmissable as court evidence, and can no longer be used to screen employees. Pretty much the only area you'll run into them is in federal jobs requiring security clearance. Investigators also use them on occasion to determine if the suspect is misleading them during an investigation, but the results can't be held against the subject of the test.
The truth is that the polygraph is a form of psychological testing. The results are meaningless unless the "operator" is a well trained psychologist. Even then, he may be unable to extract the "truth" from you; partly because "truth" is a subjective matter. In addition, some people don't do well (or do TOO well) under stress testing. So the results can be bogus in those cases. Basically, polygraphs are unreliable at best, and should never be counted on for accurate information.
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The FBI file actually says that the deal fell through, and that he stood to make 30k if he could make the study appear favorable to Gilette. Apparently he couldn't do this because he couldn't get the guy who was helping him with the study to help with the lie. Since it turned out that the study showed half preferred the gilette blade and half the generic. This doesn't prove that the lie detector doesn't work, but it might prove that gilette blades of that time period were no better than generic blades. Some FBI person wrote on the bottom of the page, "I always thought this fellow Marston was a phony, and this proves it". He obviously already didn't like the guy when he wrote this. So yes, he did try to lie about some test results to make some money off of gilette, but overall, the file seems like pretty good stuff. Included are letters and memos that talk about how the FBI was excited about the publication of Marston's book, and also Marston's letter to the President offering his services and expertise when the US joined WW2. Gotta love how /. submitters try to swing the story their way.
StickMan
www.rageagainst.net
There's nothing crackpot about it.....
The main determination is never made by the machine, it simply
registers changes in your metabolism...every security agency STILL uses it
when agents come back in from the field...it IS science, but calling it a
"lie detector" can be considered nonsense...it's called a POLYGRAPH.
The interrogator is the main component of that scenario that determines if you're
trying to hide something. I suggest that unless you've gone through one
(Yes, twice, passed) and studied the "science" behind the procedure you might want to
hold off on further comments....
End of Line.