THE VALIDITY OF THE LIE-DETECTOR - 2 SURVEYS OF SCIENTIFIC OPINION

The widespread use of polygraph (''lie detector'') tests has important social and individual consequences. Courts asked to admit polygraph f indings into evidence, as well as individuals asked to submit to polyg raph tests, have a natural interest in the acceptance by the relevant scientific community of the polygraph technique. For this reason, we c onducted mail surveys to obtain the opinions of 2 groups of scientists from relevant disciplines: members of the Society for Psychophysiolog ical Research and Fellows of the American Psychological Association's Division 1 (General Psychology). Survey return rates were high (91% an d 74%, respectively). Most of the respondents believed that polygraphi c lie detection is not theoretically sound, claims of high validity fo r 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.