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Be prepared also for the possibility of hecklers or angry members of the
public at a talk if it's set up as an event and publicized by the museum.
There are a number of people out there who consider themselves to have been
wronged (wrongfully accused, fired, denied a job, etc) because of polygraph
testing, and if you publicize an event you may draw them in.  On the other
hand, you could also be intentional about this and set up a debate or a
several experts of varying opinions.  

Suzanne Mallery
La Sierra University

-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wendy Yung
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 12:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Polygraphs in museums [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]



ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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It seems that a polygraph presents a great, engaging opportunity to talk
about controls, false positives and false negatives as Suzanne has
demonstrated -- however I'm realising this is probably best presented as
a talk/demonstration (just in case the public gets the wrong idea)
rather than as an unstaffed exhibit. 

You've all given me plenty to think about - and test with our visitors!
Thanks for your thoughts. 
 


-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Suzanne Mallery
Sent: Friday, 11 May 2007 4:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Polygraphs in museums

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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My reaction to the question about polygraphs is somewhat similar to that
of Amanda, though not as strong.  I am a psychologist and my main
question about the exhibit is what exactly you want to convey with it.
It seems to me that the reality about polygraphs is probably too subtle
to convey easily in this form, and my main concern would be that the end
result could easily be a misrepresentation or science "lessons" that are
counterfactual or counterproductive.

The polygraph itself is based on solid psychological principles in the
sense that the measures it assesses are legitimately physiological
responses that occur in the context of arousal and are used in a lot of
psychological research.  The main problem I have with the polygraph is
the inference made that what one is measuring is necessarily "lying" and
that it can be accurately measured.  What you are measuring is a set of
physiological responses, but these responses don't reliably correlate
the truth or falsity of the person's statements, at least not to the
extent that we call it a "good" measure of lying.  There are more
factors (a range of emotions, for
example) that impact these physiological measures in addition to lying,
and in this case you could end up with a false positive.  There are some
conditions and some people who don't have the common physiological
response to lying, so the test would produce a false negative.  The
polygraph itself is not reliable enough to be admissible in court as a
measure of veracity, and I think this is consistent with the evidence.

Interestingly, the extent to which the polygraph is accurate depends on
how much the person being tested BELIEVES that the polygraph can detect
lies.
If a person believes that it works, they are more likely to have the
physiological response that is supposed to be the "typical" response for
liars.  So paradoxically, if a science museum is convincing the public
that the polygraph "works" to detect lies, the effect is to make it more
accurate for the public!  For the criminal with a lot of knowledge of
the research on the polygraph, though, the test would be less likely to
detect lying, assuming the criminal believed (correctly) that it's not
accurate.

The polygraph is an interesting case of measurement and error in the
sense that it demonstrates ideas of reliability of measures and external
validity (are we measuring what we think we're measuring).  I think this
is more complex that you want to get in an exhibit, though.

One concern I have is that by including a polygraph in an exhibit
without debunking it you are tacitly lending validity to the idea that
it is a valid scientific tool that accurately measures what it is
claimed to measure.  

My other concern is for my discipline itself, in that I think psychology
often tends to be misrepresented in science museums or represented in
ways that are highly skewed toward a very old definition of the
discipline.  I'm currently doing a research study on the representation
of psychology in science museums and have been collecting data on
psychology-related exhibits.  My hope is to get both psychologists and
museums interested in more collaborative work to make some of the more
interesting recent research and concepts in psychology available to the
public.  In my mind, reinforcing the public perception of the polygraph
as legitimate psychological science is a negative development in the
public perception of psychology.  Many people tend to see psychology in
a way that is almost akin to "magic."  If you tell someone you're a
psychologist they start to think you can read their mind or something.
One of the goals of psychology is to help dispel the power of "magic" in
people's minds and to ignite interest in science.  

I think there MAY be ways to do this with a polygraph in a museum, but I
think it's more likely that many people would come to a conclusion that
is opposite to what you are trying to convey, so I'm doubtful that it's
"worth it."

Suzanne Mallery
Assistant Professor, Psychology
La Sierra University
Riverside, California

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