professor<\/a> of psychology at Harvard Medical School, wanting to get rid of anxiety can in fact make you feel even more anxious. He explains that worrying about eliminating your anxiety can activate your nervous system, which can cause your anxiety to end up worse than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn effective way to make anxiety go away is by accepting it and allowing it to run its course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether innocent or guilty, it’s normal for a person to feel anxious about taking a lie detector test. The same is true if it’s for screening for a dream job since, after all, it’s one’s future career that’s on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s also perfectly fine to tell the polygraph examiner that you are nervous. This will allow him or her to establish your baseline readings more accurately. Allowing the examiner to know that you are anxious not because you are trying to hide something but because of the test itself can help you calm down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Build rapport with the polygraph examiner<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The individual who is conducting the lie detector test isn’t your friend. He or she isn’t your enemy either \u2014 it’s just that the person is doing his or her job and questioning you is just all in a day’s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, while you’re undergoing the examination, the examiner is someone you should connect with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Different polygraph examiners have different ways of building rapport with the subjects of a lie detector test. It’s not unlikely for some of them to share stories or even joke that the test is no big deal. You will have an idea of the personality of the examiner during the pre-test phase, which will take up much of the examination’s time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter if the examiner is friendly or otherwise, always keep in mind that you will be out of the testing center in 2 to 3 hours, which means that it’s pointless to stress over a person whom you might never ever see again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask to have the question repeated if necessary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Several different questions will be asked by the polygraph examiner throughout the test. Some of them are relevant questions, which are crime-related. Others are control questions, which, although not directly related to the crime being investigated or job position available, can be uncomfortable to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there are also irrelevant questions that provoke no emotion or the need to lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless of the question, it’s perfectly fine to request the examiner to repeat it. As a matter of fact, in some instances, the examinee is allowed up to 6 times to ask to have the question repeated. But this is rarely needed because it’s not uncommon for the examiner to state a question 3 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Knowing that you heard or understood the question perfectly fine can help lower your anxiety. It’s also a good idea to take your time when answering a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do box breathing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Taking slow, deep breaths activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which then calms the body’s fight or flight response \u2014 having the fight or flight response activated can mess with the polygraph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s a secret: before military individuals enter high-pressure situations, they do what’s referred to as box breathing. Also sometimes known as the Navy SEAL breathing technique or four-square breathing, it’s a deep breathing technique that helps to slow down breathing and, more importantly, calm the nerves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides being effective, another nice thing about box breathing is that it’s so simple and easy to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Breathe in counting to 4, hold your breath for 4 seconds, breathe out counting to 4, count for 4 seconds before breathing in again \u2014 that’s how you do box breathing. And since it requires you to count in your mind every step of the way, you get distracted, too, which helps get your mind off being anxious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daydream about something comforting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What’s your happy place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a question you may ask yourself before the polygraph examiner starts to throw yes or no questions your way. Having a clear picture of a place that makes you feel happy, relaxed and confident can help you calm down during a polygraph examination, thus keeping it from being a horrible experience and preventing a false positive result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter if it’s a secluded beach, a cozy caf\u00e9 or your bedroom you consider your happy place, imagining yourself in it instead of being in a room with a polygraph examiner and a lie detector machine can lower your blood pressure, slow down your heart rate and decrease your respiratory rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read Also: Can a Heart Condition Affect a Polygraph?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nBut don’t get too lost in that place that brings you joy and peace of mind \u2014 it’s still important to pay attention to the polygraph examiner so that you can understand each question very well and answer it truthfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just Before You Panic About Taking a Polygraph Test<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
One of the best things that you can do to increase your chances of passing that upcoming lie detector test is to put your stress and anxiety in check. While it’s perfectly normal to feel nervous about undergoing the examination, you should not let your nerves take control and influence your performance and, ultimately, the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read Next: What to Expect on Polygraph<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The thought of taking a polygraph test can be nerve-racking enough. Reading the written report containing the result of the polygraph examination afterward can be more terrifying, though. And your anxiety can easily go straight…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2538"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2560,"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions\/2560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truthorlie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}