Polygraph Testing in the Promotion Essay

Total Length: 1671 words ( 6 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 4

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Public policy makers in general and the police agency in particular should refrain from using the polygraph test in their selection of employees, particularly since, at worst, they may end up including potential robbers and murderers as part of their organization. The purpose of the followign study is to evalaute these conclusions by investigating the efficacy of polygraph tests in assessing police candidates

Source

Brett, a. Phillips, M., & Beary, J (1986)PREDICTIVE POWER of the POLYGRAPH: CAN the "LIE DETECTOR" REALLY DETECT LIARS? Psychophysiology, http://www.american-buddha.com/art.predictivepowerpolygraphbeary.htm

The positive predictive value of the polygraph (ie, the proportion of positive test results that are true positives) was assessed, on the evidence of the best published data for the sensitivity and specificity of the device. In many screening or investigative situations, the predictive value would be poor; most of the positive results would be false positives.

Garwood M., Ansley N., (1983) the accuracy and utility of polygraph testing. Washington, D.C. Department of Defense.

Urging restrictions on use of polygraph testing, but, nonethelss, supporting its genral use in government and police agencies.

Lykken D.T., (1997).
The validity of the lie detector: Two surveys of scientific opinion. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 82(3), Jun 1997, 426-433.

Researchers conducted mail surveys to obtain the opinions of 2 groups of scientists from relevant disciplines: members of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and Fellows of the American Psychological Association's Division 1 (General Psychology). Survey return rates were high (91% and 74%, respectively). Most of the respondents believed that polygraphic lie detection is not theoretically sound, claims of high validity for these procedures cannot be sustained, the lie test can be beaten by easily learned countermeasures, and polygraph test results should not be admitted into evidence in courts of law

Saxe L., Dougherty D., Cross T. (1983). Scientific validity of polygraph testing: A research review and evaluation. Technical memorandum OTA-TM-H-15. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment.

Reviews the literature on field and analog polygraph testing to aid Congressional consideration of efforts by the U.S. Department of Defense to expand use of polygraph tests to large numbers of government employees with access to classified information. It is noted that….....

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https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/polygraph-testing-promotion-54682