Dr. Hugh Gusterson’s new article “Is There Something Fishy about the Polygraph?” is featured in the latest issue of Anthropology News. This article examines the history and use of the controversial polygraph test. In 2017 Dr. Gusterson and his research assistant Dana Burton observed the nine-day court case of White Marlin Open, Inc. v. Heasley in which Phil Heasley (who won Ocean City’s 2016 White Marlin Open competition but was subsequently disqualified for failing a lie detector test) challenged the validity of his failed polygraph test in an attempt to reclaim his $2.8 million prize money. Expert witnesses included members of the American Polygraph Association who testified on opposite sides of the case.
“The utopian dream of the polygraph is to afford certainty in the face of deception, to make lies transparent. In this case, which featured the leading polygraphers in the land testifying against one another, the polygraph in many ways just deepened the mystery.”
Dr. Hugh Gusterson
Anthropology
