The FBI teaches you lie detection, people reading and intelligence skills

Chapter 10 Your emotional cognition will betray you (2)
From the above comparison, we can see that the physiological reaction of the subjects in the polygraph test is not caused by a single psychological factor, but the result of the combined effect of various psychological factors.In the principle question test method, the worry and fear of the lie being exposed are dominant, but at the same time, there is also the solid and profound perceptual memory of the subject's own criminal process as the basis.The main role in GKT technology is the cognitive psychological process of the crime plot, but it also has the effect of arousing the emotional memory at the time of committing the crime.Therefore, both emotion and cognition are the psychological basis of lie detection, but they play different roles in CQT and GKT techniques.

§§§Section [-] Psychological Orientation and Lie Detection

Whether it is the emotional process or the cognition and will process, it is inseparable from the participation of attention.Attention refers to the pointing and concentration of mental activities on certain things or activities.Because of this pointing and concentration, people can clearly realize a few objects in the surrounding reality and ignore other objects, so that people can concentrate on understanding and dealing with the things that are most meaningful to them at present.The objects of attention can be things or activities in the external world, or people's own actions or ideas.Although attention is not an independent psychological process, it is always accompanied by all cognition, emotion, and will processes, so that these psychological processes can proceed smoothly.

Both the response in the CQT test and the response in the GKT test are closely related to attention.

In CQT testing techniques, the selection and development of criterion questions is key.The criterion question was used to trigger the stress response of the subjects as a criterion for judging lying.If the subject's response to the subject question is greater than the response level of the criterion question, the subject is considered to be lying; if the subject question's response is less than the criterion question's response, it indicates that the subject is honest.This method, on the surface, seems to be a comparison between telling a small lie and a big lie or a comparison between lying and not lying, but from a psychological point of view, the difference in the responses of the subjects to these two types of questions is due to their understanding of the two types of questions. Note the difference in the center.Generally speaking, people always care about and pay attention to those things that have a stake in their own survival and development, and the external stimuli that currently threatens them the most will become the focus of attention.This is a directional reflection formed by people in long-term activities.For a guilty subject, he knows very well that he has committed or participated in a criminal act. Once this fact is exposed, his family, career, future, and destiny will all be lost. This is the biggest threat he faces in polygraph testing.Therefore, he must pay special attention to the subject matter, which becomes the focus of his attention.

And the matter involved in the matter of principle is secondary to him, unimportant, and although he also lies, it will not be the center of his attention.The innocent subjects also knew very well that the case under investigation was not done by themselves, and they were innocent in this matter.However, some of the problems involved in the question of principles have indeed happened or seem to have happened. These things are disgraceful, immoral, and even illegal. If they are known, they will damage their personality and reputation.In addition, the polygrapher repeatedly asked and emphasized the standard questions in the pre-test conversation, which made him feel that these questions were more important, and made him have various worries, doubts, and anxieties about the standard questions, which led to the focus of his attention. On the issue of yardstick.Therefore, the effectiveness of the CQT test technique is due to the fact that the focus of attention ("mental orientation") of the guilty and innocent subjects in the test is different, which leads to their different responses to the subject questions and criterion questions.This is an important psychological difference between the guilty and the innocent in CQT technology, and it is the fundamental psychological basis of CQT technology.As for whether the subjects were lying or telling the truth, telling a big lie or a small lie, it was not the essence of the problem.

In the GKT test, the different responses of the guilty subjects to the theme questions and the foil questions are also due to the different attention of the subjects to these two types of questions.Both the information of the theme question and the foil question are stored in the brains of the subjects, but because the guilty subjects have personally implemented and perceived the whole process of the crime, the plot of the crime has left a deep memory trace in their minds, so the subject question The information has special meaning to him and must be the focus of his attention during the test.The foil question has no special meaning to the subject, has no special engraving in his mind, and will not become the center of his attention.Therefore, in a group of GKT problems, informed subjects will always cause a greater physiological response to the subject matter, while uninformed subjects in a group of GKT problems, his attention is distracted, and his physiological responses It is random and has no specific direction.In the practice of lie detection, we have found many times that it is not necessary for the subjects to respond to the test target questions.Whether he responds to the target question depends not only on whether he perceives the test object but also on whether he pays attention to it.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that whether it is a CQT test or a GKT test, the root cause of the subject's physiological response to a specific question is the subject's "psychological orientation" to the specific question, that is, attention.In the CQT test, the psychological orientation of the guilty subjects is on the subject question, and the psychological orientation of the innocent subjects is on the criterion question; in the GKT test, the psychological orientation of the guilty subjects is on the target question, while the innocent subjects have no psychological orientation.Therefore, polygraph testing is not so much a test of lies as a test of psychological orientation.If the subject has an obvious psychological orientation to the subject question and the target question, he is a criminal; if he has no psychological orientation to the subject question and the target question, then he is innocent.Because of this, in the process of polygraph detection, the polygraph examiner needs to guide the subjects correctly and effectively through the pre-test interview, so that the psychological orientation of the guilty and innocent subjects can be clearly distinguished.This is the key to operating this technique.

§§§ Section [-] Orientation Reflex and Lie Detector

The physiological basis of attention is the orientation reflex.Orientation reflex is a kind of directional reflex caused by novel stimuli, and it is the basic way for animals to achieve balance with the environment.

The physiological mechanism of the directional reflex is the dominant excitatory center of the cerebral cortex.At each instant a series of stimuli act upon the brain, producing a multitude of degrees of excitement in the cerebral cortex.

When the organism is continuously affected by the stimuli that are very important to it, the corresponding nerve center will be excited in a relatively stable and concentrated manner, forming a dominant excitation center.The dominant excitation center inhibits other reflex activities and attracts the nerve excitement transmitted to other centers to itself.At this time, any other stimuli cannot cause the other corresponding centers to respond, but only strengthen the reflex action of the dominant excitatory center.Therefore, the formation of the dominant excitation center enables the psychological activities of animals and humans to concentrate on a specific object and ignore other objects within a certain period of time.This is the mechanism of attention.The nervous excitement in the cortical center will inevitably be transmitted down to the subcutaneous central and peripheral nervous system through neurotransmitters, and the sympathetic nerve will be awakened to produce a series of physiological reactions.

When detecting a lie, the respondent's reaction process is a directional reflex process.When the polygrapher asks the subject questions, criterion questions, neutral questions, target questions and foil questions in a certain order, it will form a certain stimulus to the subjects, and cause a certain degree of excitement in the corresponding areas of the cerebral cortex. .But different questions have different signal meanings, the amount of stimulation to the subjects is different, and the intensity of the excitement formed in the cerebral cortex is also different.For the guilty subjects, the topic questions in the CQT model and the target questions in the GKT model have the greatest meaning and threat to him, and the stimulation is the largest, forming the dominant excitation center in the cerebral cortex.According to the law of negative induction, this-dominant excitation center will have a certain degree of inhibitory effect on the excitation formed by neutral question, criterion question and foil question stimulus, and will attract the excitement of these question stimuli to the dominant excitement caused by the theme question Center up.In this way, the subject has a directional reflection on the subject question and the target question, and on the map of the polygraph, you will see obvious differences in the physiological response indicators between the subject question and the criterion question and the target question and the foil question.For innocent subjects, in the CQT test, due to the effective guidance of the polygrapher before the test, he feels that the criterion question has greater significance for him, so he pays more attention to the criterion question, forming a dominant excitement center, or The theme question and the guideline question stimulated him equally, and did not form an obvious dominant excitation center.In the GKT test, the target question and the foil question stimulate him equally, and will not form a dominant excitation center in his cerebral cortex.What can be seen on the lie detector map may be that the physiological response to the principle question is greater than or approximately equal to the physiological response to the subject question, and the strength and weakness of the physiological response to the target question and the foil question are random and there is no obvious difference.Therefore, the theory of directional reflex explains the principle of lie detection well and comprehensively.The essence of lie detection is to test the subject's psychological orientation reflex.

(End of this chapter)