Lie Detectors

by Segrave, Kerry

• ISBN13: 9780786416189
• ISBN10: 0786416181
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-12-01
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing

Summary

The polygraph, most commonly known as the lie detector, was created and refined by academics in university settings with support from a few early police agencies. This work is a history of the machine, from the experimental work of the late 1800s that led directly to its creation, until the present. It covers early lie detectors and their inventors from the 1860s to the early 1920s, their use by the police and other law enforcement agencies in the 1930s and their use in Cold War America in the 1940s and 1950s. It then discusses the government's use of the polygraph in the 1960s, the PSE, a new take on the old polygraph, and private businesses' reliance on the polygraph in the 1970s and the government's increasing reluctance to use it in the 1980s. A chapter on new ideas and uses for the polygraph in the 1990s and after concludes the book.

Author Biography

Kerry Segrave is also the author of other works exploring American culture

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(2)
Ancient Truth, the Years to 1869	3	(7)
The Black Box Takes Shape, 1870 to 1929	10	(11)
A Painless Third Degree, 1930 to 1941	21	(27)
The Polygraph Spreads in Cold War America, 1940s to 1950s	48	(25)
Government Use Increases, 1960s	73	(28)
The PSE: A New Truth Machine, 1970s	101	(10)
Business Embraces the Truth Machine, 1970s	111	(23)
The Government Blocks the Box, 1980s	134	(34)
The LD Survives; New Ideas Surface, 1990s to 2002	168	(15)
Conclusion	183	(4)
Notes	187	(14)
Bibliography	201	(12)
Index	213