Customer Reviews

A Tremor In The Blood

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The word science has been associated with all sorts of hogwash and chicanery, none more harmful than the myth that there is a machine that will reliably detect lying. I know of no better example of [pseudo] science than the continued use of the polygraph.

As I write in my book, "Communication Research" (2003; p 411; Allyn & Bacon), "[Lykken's] book should receive a Pulitzer prize. It is must reading for anyone who has an association with lie detectors or polygraphs ...or for anyone who would like to go on an intellectual joy ride while swooping to an understanding of how an entire society can be duped by pseudo "science." Lyken reviews virtually all known research about lie detection with brilliant scientific rigor. He concludes [as does the National Academy of Sciences in a recently published independent report] that there exists no credible empirical evidence"... for the test's validity (Hocking et. al.; 2003; p 411; Allyn & Bacon).

I challenge anyone to read Lykken's review of polygraph research and disagree with his conclusion that "it is madness for courts or federal police or security agencies to rely on polygraph results" or that the mythology surrounding the test is a deeply entrenched mythology similar to children believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny (p 279 - Lyyken).

Lykken's book is written with the rigor and documentation of a first rate college text, yet is fascinating and readable. It is an important work, one of the best and most valuable books I have read in 30 years of teaching social research methodologoly at the university level.

Five stars are not enough to do Professor Lyyken's work justice.

Having been accused of a crime I didn't commit just because I failed a lie detector test, it was a big reveal for me to see that some people do believe that the polygraph test is bogus. Dr Lykken's book proves that with a polygraph test everything can happen : an innoscent person can look guilty, and a guilty person can look innoscent. The machine doesn't show you if you lie, it only shows you if you are nervous. Through several cases, the book shows you how Americans have had a blind believe it the device, ever since it was invented and how innoscent people have been sent to jail because of it (but they have been released later, when REAL evidence was found). I recomment everybody to read this very informative book.

I feel very strongly about this book because not too long ago a relative of mine was accused of a crime they didn't commit and was coerced by the local police dept into taking one of these tests. Fortunately, we were able to come up with many resources (including this book) to dispute the validity of the polygraph in court. Lykken's book isn't perfect by any means but it's one of the few honest books out there that explain how the mysterious polygraph works and the byzantine government reasoning behind using it. This is a book that the government definitely doesn't want you to read because it would invalidate one of their most effective "witch hunt" interrogation techniques.

Lie detectors are worthless! Innocent people have been denied employment as well as convicted of crimes they didn't commit all because of this quackery. This book shows how to beat the polygraph test.

Thanks for fantastic service from the USA to the UK. Excellent service and highly recommended to all. Many thanks from England :)

The National Academy of Sciences had this to say after completing a review of polygraph research

" specific-incident polygraph tests can discriminate

lying from truth telling at rates WELL above chance, though well below

perfection.'' By contrast, ``polygraph accuracy for screening purposes

is almost certainly lower than what can be achieved by specific-

incident polygraph tests in the field.''

There were 57 research studies used out of 1000 due to what they considered research flaws. Dr Lykken when conducting his own reviews included inconclusive findings as mistakes which in any other discipline would not be done, so his own research would be excluded from the sample due to his own bias against polygraph.

You cannot blanket all polygraph tests with the same conclusion the NAS study shows this. Despite what Dr Lykken would have you believe the NAS study shows that specific CQT testing has validity even though the basis of the study was to examine screening of which there was very little existing research to review.

The DOE response to the study is here [...]

Look at his sources one reference referred to is a study conducted by Kleinmuntz and Szucko in the journal nature in 1984 . Closer examination of this research also demonstrates his and researcher bias any decent scientist would not use misleading studies like this one.

This study was supposed to indicate polygraph accuracy in the field . However they use polygraph students with no experience, they use a scoring method never used in the field, they ignore the original examiners findings (which were 100% accurate by the way) they use only one parameter for a conclusion in the field there are minimum of 4 . How does that replicate what happens in the field when none of that is done?

More proof the Dr Lykken is biased the same claim he makes about other researchers he is guilty of himself.

Assess the credibility of this author he was an expert witness for the admission of a polygraph test as evidence in court. Yes that right he was arguing to have a polygraph result admitted as evidence. He even put it in writing that CQT polygraph testing was 90 percent accurate in a letter to Dr David Raskin.

You need to look a bit deeper into who you are believing . Dr Lykken had a bias and contradicted himself on a few occasions. Just like this book.

Dr. Lykken contradicts himself through out the book. How can you say the polygraph doesn't work, and then promote the GKT for the detection of truth? His work research is indirect conflict with and has been discredited by other researcher such as Rakins, Honts, Kirscher and Abrams (and many others). Interestingly, since he first wrote this book, the Guilty Knowledge Test has been almost universally accepted as being worthless and little better than a coin toss.

Dr Lykken is one of the only scientists who has done any research on polygraph that draws a half negative conclusion other researchers like Dr Raskin totally disagree with him. This book is interesting reading and contradictory in its content. On the one hand Dr Lykken says that polygraphs don't work and on the other he promotes a guilty knowledge test using the same polygraph as a good way to detect guilty knowledge. He invented this test so he promotes it in this book as the best type of polygraph test. I found this book to be very biased and not very convincing due to the fact he contradicts himself a lot. While it is true mistakes are made using polygraph it is no different than any other forensic method as nothing in forensics is 100% accurate. While Dr Lykken makes some good points it is obvious he makes a living out of producing anti-polygraph material. If what he states in this book where tottally true the NSA,CIA,FBI,Police and law enforcement agencies across the US would not rely so heavily upon them.