An evaluation of field techniques in detection of deception.

Abstract

ABSTRACTField techniques of detecting deception were evaluated using a mock crime situation. Thirty‐six Ss were “guilty” of taking $10, and 36 Ss were “innocent,” A field‐type interview was followed by a zone comparison control‐question polygraph examination. A Keeler field polygraph was used to record physiology activity, and field (semi‐objective) and quantitative evaluations of the charts were made. Those who evaluated the charts were not informed about the “guilt” or “innocence” of each S. Using field evaluations, there were 53% correct. 12% incorrect, and 35% inconclusives. Excluding inconclusives there were 81% correct decision. using quantitative scoring, significant discriination between “guilty” and “innocent” was obtaindd with skin resistance, cardiovascular, and respiration measures, with skin resistance best. Field evaluations also produced significant discrimination for all three measures. Blind evaluations of the charts by 5 additional examiners produced high agreement among examiner decisions and a mean correlation of .86 among total scores. Thus, the effectiveness of commonly used field techniques and equipment in differentiating truth and deception was demonstrated in a laboratory setting.