How do polygraghs work from a masters or phd perspective?
I only at a bachlors level in psychology and I know polygraghs are not as accurate as they used to think but people still believe that since are nurvous systems and brains are build differently.
Should I take one even though I kind of know how to read them?
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They simply measure simple body functions. Breathing...do you take a big breath before you tell a lie? Galvanic skin response...do your hands get sweaty when you're under stress? Etc.
The problem is that these signals can be evidence of an agitated mental state due to the stress of telling a lie and the fear of getting caught, or it can be evidence of an agitated mental state due to the stress of being questioned and the fear of not being believed. Which is it? Polygraph examiners claim they know how to interpret the data and distinguish liars. Blind tests have shown that they are only accurate about 80% of the time, with both false positives (people telling the truth who are labeled as liars) and false negatives (liars who are believed to be telling the truth).