POLYGRAPHERS DILEMMA OR PSYCHOLOGISTS CHIMERA - A REPLY TO FUREDYS LOGICO-ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL PRACTITIONERS AND RESEARCHERS

We respond to Furedy's article in this journal where he raised an issu e he referred to as the ''Polygrapher's dilemma'' (Furedy, J.J. (1993) Int. J. Psychophysiol., 15: 263-267). Furedy claimed that the control question test, the most commonly applied psychophysiological detectio n of deception test, is inherently subjective and harmful to subjects in both the field and the laboratory. Fortunately, Furedy's arguments were based on inaccurate representations of the control question test and on flawed logic. To correct Furedy's misrepresentations, we presen t an accurate description of how the control question test is used and evaluated. We then examine the results of empirical research that add ress Furedy's concerns. Furedy's concerns are found to be lacking on a lmost all counts. Finally, we discuss the findings from several studie s that Furedy failed to mention but are directly relevant to the issue s he raised.