The Scientific Skeptic, Essay Example

Introduction

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Technically, in our daily life, we are mostly exposed to various claims which are pertaining to human psychology and human behavior. To some extent, some of these claims are scientifically valid while many of the claims are not valid and just fake. Virtually, through media, news and various TV shows, films and the internet that we are interacting with daily; we are bombarded with major claims associated with psychological topics like our body experience or recovered memory.

Abstract on the skeptical claim

The common area of pseudoscience that I would like to talk about is the myth that the polygraph test is an accurate means of detecting lies. In most situations everybody tells a lie basically, college students normally accept lying in about one in every social interaction and individuals in the community about one in every five interactions (Carroll, 2011).

Research question

Some of the research questions about my claim include; what is the significant consequence of polygraph which is as a result of technological advances? Why is polygraph a less price to pay when it comes to the benefits of science? Additionally, in what way is polygraph helpful and can it helps in solving lying problems?

An explanation on the use of scientific method

We have no reason to support that science has great impact on trends, its outcome is continuing to have great influence on dilemma and choices, historically, in to nineteen twenty, one of the major psychologists, William Moulton, was able to come up with the only polygraph which is also known as the lie detector (Weiner & Hess, 2006), polygraph has a serious consequence since it has made human being to make trust on a machine when it comes to telling the truth. This psychologist also came up with the first female cartoon superheroes “the wonder woman”, this could totally tell the truth if any case someone is lying. We owe much to science and polygraph is a less price to pay when it comes to the benefits of science. Polygraph machines are able to plot physiological reactions which are aroused by the questions asked; this can be through changes in blood pressure, skin conductance and respiration on a chart which is continuously running. This is contrary to the perception that is viewed in the movie “Meet the Parents” the machine doesn’t provide a faster solution when it comes to showing whether someone is telling the truth. Though there is a lot of uncertainty in polygraphs, the public still prefer it as the best method to be used and a way to go when it comes to knowing whether someone is telling the truth. Additionally, when it comes to interpreting polygraph charts, it’s generally difficult hence making it hard to interpret and to discover the truth (Weiner & Hess, 2006).

Regardless to the burden of science, polygraph has been helpful in solving some lie problems, the polygraph can mostly be successful to the starters, who were using polygraph for the first time, at least they will experience anxiety and guilt when it comes to answering the questions, in this case, they can be identified very easily on whether they are telling the truth or not. Those who have undergone polygraph testing can be able to strongly sustain themselves and tell a lie, this cannot be sometimes be realized the polygraph charts (Carroll, 2011). This generally shows that polygraphs test suffer great chances of false positives and even the test end up putting some innocent individuals life in danger. Technically in future, having the promise of a perfect lie detector is remaining a dream of a comic fantasy book.

Comparison on other methods

We owe much to science ,the application of scientific methods helps in coming up with unpleasant way of coming with the truth , one is suppose to have the integrity of telling the truth and relying on polygraph can lead to a disaster. The increasing large reliance on technology especially in decision making is the very big problem, it’s like we are trading off the decision-making process. Scientific progress has a high chance of delivering us from different evils a not including our own destructive bent and our own findings. This is different from the tenacity method where individuals hold firm the truth, the exact truth that they know to be true because they have always known it to be true.

Reference

Carroll, R. (2011). The Skeptic’s Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. John Wiley & Sons.

Weiner, I. B., & Hess, A. K. (2006). The Handbook of Forensic Psychology. John Wiley & Sons.