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)."

Comments

Re:What if a high false positive rate doesn't matt

[Dun Malg]

According to the studies linked...it seems that while the test has a high false positive rate, the false negative rate is lower than one would expect of random chance. ...if the above is true it doesn't seem to me so unreasonable at all that it be used in the hiring of FBI and CIA agents and the like.

As clearly demonstrated by the above mentioned stats, the problem is that polygraphs achieve their low false negative by basically lowering the thresholds, casting a wider net of "guilt" and snaring more innocent people. I can guarantee a 0% false negative rate-- so long as you let me declare everyone who walks in the door "deceptive". Polygraph is just theater. It's pretty much bog-standard interrogation techniques dressed up with a few electronic props to trick people into essentially admitting guilt.

Crackpot Science

[frost22]

you are probably more right than you meant to.

The lie detector is crackpot science. Apparently the idea of forcing people to tell the truth rings some arch-american instinct, so the attempts to abolish it on scientific grounds have been unsuccsessful so far (as with other highly questionable practices, like the death penalty, or the unlimited "adult" criminal responsibility of children, that also appeal to brutish instincts of the american populace).

Virtually nobody outside of the US uses it any more.

Re:The Prestige

[Catbeller]

For that matter, why are we relying on the interrogator's lie detection abilities? What's his error rate? Where's the data?

Re:A way out?

[DrVomact]

The truth is that the polygraph is a form of psychological testing. The results are meaningless unless the "operator" is a well trained psychologist.

Actually, the operator has to be a well-trained interrogator. Lie detectors have nothing to do with science. There has never been a credible peer-reviewed study that shows "polygraphs" really work--that is, that they can distinguish truth from lies. As far as I know, no other civilized country uses "polygraphs". The "polygraph" is an instrument of intimidation; once you are hooked up to one, the interrogator can ask you anything he likes, and you--trapped in a web of hoses and wires--feel obliged to answer.It's a "scientific" instrument, after all, and you can't just get up and walk away (not without doing a lot of damage to that delicate instrument, anyway). If you believe it works, your blood pressure will probably go through the ceiling when you lie. Furthermore, the interrogator is free to interpret the results in any way he likes. If someone disagrees with his interpretation of the little squiggles on the paper, why then he's not a "skilled operator". The interrogator can even lie about the results of the test to you...hoping you'll break down and confess.

Given these facts, I would never submit to a lie detector test. To do so is to put yourself at the mercy of a ju-ju-man, and being innocent is not going to protect you against his shenanigans.