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Subject:What is a "lifestyle polygraph"? From:"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 1 Dec 2003 14:36:15 -0500
John Posada wondered about the meaning of a "lifestyle polygraph". Unless
you're applying to work for the CIA, it probably means the company has some
looney-toon ideas of what constitutes a procedure for screening applicants
and should be avoided unless you're desperate for work.
Diane Evans reports: <<Polygraph tests are considered reliable in detecting
the truth or falsity of the answers to objective questions, especially those
that can be answered with a "yes" or "no" in reference to specific acts.
Subjective questions produce less reliable results. False positives and
false negatives are rare (but still possible) when the proper questioning
procedures are followed.>>
On the contrary, polygraph tests are only considered broadly reliable by
those who earn a good living applying them. There was a wonderful article on
this subject last year in Scientific American that (imho) pretty thoroughly
debunked the value of lie detectors.
<<While a job applicant has the right to refuse a lifestyle polygraph, an
employer can legally reject a job application solely on the basis such
refusal under some circumstances.>>
This may well be true in specific jurisdictions and for specific job types
(e.g., government positions where the need for security is high), but I'm
not sure that it's universally true across jurisdictions or job types. My
understanding is that because of the high subjectivity of the test and the
non-trivial potential for false positives, a good lawyer could treat the
test as discriminatory and cause a lot of grief for an employer using one
without a really strong need and a really expert invigilator.
--Geoff Hart, ghart -at- [delete]videotron -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
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