Polygraph Tests at the election debate
by salvo 8:20am, 22 November 2007
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There has been a lot of talk on this site (this page, the Senator Online Page and in Karthik's Corner) about the lack of ethics and trustworthyness of our politicians. This is a real problem. They say whatever it takes to get elected and then do something different. I think instead of the worm we should have the politicians hooked up to a lie detector during election debates. That really would be revealing!
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greenade
Nov 22, 2007 10:13am
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he he salvo, nice idea... if polygraphs were reliable.. but a true sociopath is unlikely to set off a lie detector. sorry to disappoint!
blakey
Nov 22, 2007 04:36pm
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LOL! Do lie detectors work if everything someone says is a lie?? Perhaps not the best idea for reform ever but it made me laugh
greenade
Nov 25, 2007 11:13am
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Lie detection (physiological measures) rely on autonomic arousal to detect lying. unfortunately, some people are just more anxious than others, so will come off as liars when they are telling the truth if the issue is something they are passionate about. pathological liars are so used to lying, they don't know the difference between truth and fiction, so are unlikely to show arousal when lying. a sub-class of sociopaths may also have dysfunctional arousal systems (neurological)which is why their crimes tend to be more violent or daring and escalate over time.
Food for thought: If a person tells you they never lie, you can be sure they are lying ;)
dan28
Nov 22, 2007 10:26pm
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Why stop there you could install polygraphs in all the seats in parliament and wire them up at question time.
starmat
Jan 02, 2008 07:22pm
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Unfortunately for the average person in the street the polygraph, despite being "calibrated by an expert", before hand,will more often than not make liars of most of us irrespective.Fortunately for most politicians however i'm sure that any "negative" result would most likely be a faulty polygraph machine or dare we say, operator error!
ballotsmith
Nov 23, 2007 03:24pm
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Accountability to the people on a regular basis can only happen realistically in local public meetings. This is essential in addition to the efforts of the media which is not personal enough to engage the people.
But this can never happen until we have every decision in parliament made independent of party or other pressure - by ballot. There is no other way.