Jon Larson invented the polygraph in 1921. His invention aided police interrogations starting in 1924. Getty
The polygraph or “lie detector” officially dates back to 1921, when Canadian psychologist John A. Larson invented the controversial device while working for the Berkeley Police Department. Since then the deception-sensing doohickey has found itself the subject of Senate hearings, the Jerry Springer Show, and countless TV shows. Perhaps the most famous line of polygraph pop culture comes from George Costanza who, rather presciently told Jerry Seinfeld, “Just remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it.” With that in mind, here’s the sordid history of the polygraph.
Who would have thought the Canadians created the lie detector?
A Seismic Shift
While there were previous examples of machines created to measure misstatements by measuring a person’s pulse or blood pressure, Larson’s polygraph is considered the first “lie detector.” Ironically, the device was created at the behest of Berkeley’s famous police chief August Vollmer. Apparently, the chief wanted to replace the age-old interrogation technique of beating the crap out of potentially innocent suspects.
American inventor John Larson right, demonstrated his polygraph at Northwestern University 1930s. Getty
Civilized Interrogation
As Northwestern history professor Ken Alder tells it, "He actually wanted to use the science to make the cops more law-abiding themselves, to substitute this new scientific interrogation for what was formerly known as the third degree, which was a way of getting information from people by beating them up."
Lawson based his polygraph on the work of psychologist William Marston who branched off to create the comic Wonder Woman and her magical “Lasoo of Truth.” Two years later, the Supreme Court ruled that the polygraph could only be admissible if it was "sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance" by the scientific community.
Lawson followed the research that came before him to create his polygraph.
Dick Tracy Polygraph Approach
Nine years after Lawson’s invention, Leonarde Keeler, who established the country’s first scientific crime detection laboratory at Northwestern, backed the device's efficacy and wielded it to great effect. According to Alder, "One of the things Keeler was great at doing was bluffing people into confessing. He was able to get 60% confession rates by bluffing people [with the threat of the lie detector]."
The interrogation extraordinaire also ended up playing himself in a 1948 film, “Call Northside 777”, opposite James Stewart which would raise some eyebrows today. Even more strangely, one of the Keeler students, Chester Gould, supposedly based his Dick Tracy character on the truth-seeking professor and colleagues.
Leonarde Keeler experimenting with the polygraph. wired
Polygraph Skepticism
Of course, not everyone felt the polygraph represented an infallible arbiter of truth. Senator Sam Ervin felt, "The whole process smacks of 20th Century witchcraft." Despite the lack of actual scientific data supporting the polygraph, by the early 1980s more than a million people became the subjects of polygraph testing in order to keep or earn a job. When employers began asking potential employees about sexual preferences and other private matters, Congress finally stepped in by banning the practice.
However, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act does allow for polygraph testing if the position includes the handling of drugs or security. Tests can also be administered if investigating a theft or crime – but written notice is required.
The effectiveness of the ploygraph remains in question today.
How Effective Is The Polygraph?
Even after a century of polygraph proliferation, its effectiveness still remains in question. Naturally, The National Polygraph Association states that “scientific evidence supports the validity of polygraph examinations” assuming the test was conducted using valid procedures. The Association also references a “meta-analysis of all peer-reviewed studies on polygraph testing that found an accuracy rate of 87%.”
However, the American Psychological Association (APA) counters that “an honest person may be nervous when answering truthfully and a dishonest person may be non-anxious.” Former Oklahoma City police officer Doug Williams who administered hundreds of polygraph tests and wrote a book “How to Sting the Polygraph” obviously sides with APA. Williams wrote:
“The polygraph is not a lie detector, and it is not a truth verifier, it is simply a crude reaction recorder, and the reactions it records can be indicative of just about anything except deception,” Williams wrote in his book. “I can even teach you how to duplicate this reaction by a simple breathing and muscle exercise. In fact, when you finish reading this manual, you will be able to control every tracing on the polygraph chart at will.”
It’s perhaps worth mentioning that Williams was sentenced to two years in prison for mail fraud and witness tampering after an FBI sting caught him agreeing to help a drug smuggler and child molester beat polygraphs.
