Decision Accuracy for the Relevant_Irrelevant Screening Test: Influence of an Algorithm on Human Decision_Making

"The Relevant-Irrelevant (RI) has been used as a polygraph screening technique by several decades longer than any other. It has demonstrated practical value in prompting self-report from applicants and employees of behaviours of interest to employers. The RI has certain strengths that have made it an attractive alternative (Krapohl & Shaw 2015). With no comparison questions, the RI is not subject to criticisms that the examiner must manipulate the examinee in some fashion to make the technique effective, as probable-lie comparison question techniques may. It is more flexible than most other methods, accommodating from two to five relevant questions in a single test series. The RI may also be more resistant to countermeasures, at least of the type in which examinees induce reactions to comparison questions. "(...

Five Milestones in the History of the Polygraph

"Looking back through the lens of history I believe there were five critical events that brought the polygraph profession to where it is today. Here are those events."(...

Electrodermal Response Ratios: Scoring Against the Stronger of Two Comparison Questions in Search of an Optimal Minimum Threshold

Previously, Krapohl (2020) evaluated the Bigger-Is-Better Rule (BIBR) on the polygraph electrodermal channel to assess whether there was a best minimum ratio between response sizes for assigning a score. Performance peaked at a minimum ratio between 10% and 20%. The ratios had been calculated by comparing the electrodermal responses for each relevant question against those of the immediately preceding comparison question. The analysis did not consider whether the same optimal ratio would be found if the relevant question electrodermal responses are compared to those of the stronger of two adjacent comparison questions. To investigate we analyzed responses from an independent sample of 255 laboratory cases. The data from those cases found the highest correlation between scores and ground truth occurred when the minimum difference between two electrodermal responses was 30%

Integration of Pre-Employment Polygraph Screening into the Police Selection Process

The authors provide a polygraph primer for police psychologists involved in law enforcement personnel selection. Law-enforcement pre-employment polygraph examinations are a decision-support tool intended to add incremental validity to the personnel selection process. Problems stemming from the use of the polygraph may be related to misunderstanding of the polygraph test and to field practices surrounding the use of polygraphy in the police selection process. Potential problems can result from ineffective selection of test issues, poorly constructed test questions and misguided policies surrounding the use of the polygraph. The authors review the history of polygraph screening, research, and field practices, and suggest that using polygraph results alone to disqualify a candidate from employment is a misguided field practice. Suggestions are offered for maximizing the decision-support value of the polygraph. Polygraph examination targets are discussed, with emphasis on selecting actuarially derived predictors associated with increased success in law enforcement training and job performance. The authors provide recommendations for field practice, and propose that police psychologists may be most suited to effectively integrate the polygraph results and information into the hiring recommendation process