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ABSTRACT
This work examines characteristics of psychopathic patients, the methods of evaluation and recent concepts for validating polygraphs, and important polygraph studies in psychopathic subjects. The purpose of the study is to review what kind of results can be expected from polygraph analyses in respect to psychopathic patients.
Keywords: Polygraph, Psychopath, Lies, Deceit
INTRODUCTION
"The psychopath is a subject with a personality with particular characteristics and of a particular lifestyle. The psychopathic person does not adapt to the norms of society, nor follow its rules. This individual is highly narcissistic, of utmost importance, is the satisfaction of his or her needs, without regard for the consequences, neither for him/herself, nor for others" k
The best way to gain an understanding of what the term "psychopath" encompasses is by means of the analyses of the most common characteristics of this disorder. For example, within the entry of codes for the psychopathic personality there is a characteristic called "alloplastic defense." This term refers to a form in which the psychopath justifies his/her actions, placing the responsibility for all unfavourable results on others or on the environment. This peculiarity is of crucial importance in order to understand why the psychopath is susceptible to interrogation and polygraph tests.
Some psychopaths are well integrated into society, and may even be a part of diverse social groups, many individuals are impulsive, simple, cold, insensitive or anti-social, but that does not mean that they are psychopaths 2.
Many psychopaths are not criminals, but they are individuals who naturally lie, manipulate and deceive in order to meet their objectives. When psychopaths remember past events, they have a good memory, and they are very intelligent and are able to react to the polygraph test. New theories suggest that the fear of being discovered and a variety of stimuli play a role in detecting lies 3, these factors may have a relation to memory in a test for hidden information k
The polygraph in the detection of lies and deceit
The detection of lies by the polygraph is based on the premise that the act of telling a lie causes the specific, universal, and reproducible physiological responses of the autonomous nervous system to be modified or changed5. These physiological responses, which are outside...