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Interestingly, the CIA spy that Lex Fridman had on [0] his podcast said that all the spy agencies use MBTI and that he (interviewee) thinks they are of value.

• greedo 4y ago
  The list of technologies the CIA has evaluated since it's inception is long and full of quackery.
  • colejohnson66 4y ago
    Without commenting on Meyers-Briggs, the CIA/FBI still use polygraphs during their interviews despite widespread acceptance that it’s useless.
    • etempleton 4y ago
      It is an interrogation technique—nothing more. If you get stressed about lying as most people do you will probably get more stressed during a polygraph and your physical response will be measurable. This allows them to pressure you into admitting something you rather not admit. If you are a sociopath or practiced you will probably do just fine. In fact, my pet theory is that some of our problems with policing in the US are a direct result of hiring practices such as the use of personality tests and the polygraph. I suspect you may inadvertently pass people who are experienced liars at a far greater than normal rate under normal interviewing practices.
    • sarchertech 4y ago
      Polygraphs can be a useful interrogation tool if the person being interrogated believes they are a magic lie detecting machine.
      • stephen_g 4y ago
        But the problem is that (as far as I'm aware) most of the people running these tests also believe that polygraphs are magic lie detecting machines. So you get false negatives of people failing even though they're not being deceptive, while people who know what's up can lie and breeze past...
    • vlod 4y ago
      For those that are interested, here's [0] where he talks about polygraph tests. [0] https://youtu.be/T3FC7qIAGZk?t=5941 https://youtu.be/T3FC7qIAGZk?t=5941 He says it's not a lie detector test, but a variance detector. /shrug I expect the CIA polygraph detectors are super skilled and can detect if you're messing them around. Also I think there's a difference if you're trying to mess with a civilian polygraph detector (to cause confusion for a crime), verses one where you're trying to get a job at the agency.
      • nocsi 4y ago
        Here's a secret. They don't really care about any readings. It's just a tool for interrogation and gaslighting you. If you're doing stuff like squeezing your sphincter, yea they have sensors on the chairs to detect that. Polygraphers are skilled at reading people & telling stories. But them reading the machines? It's kinda nonsense - they'd only read results to find excuses to gaslight you. They pretend to rip off the polygraph sheets and yell. Playing good cop/bad cop and making up stories to try to build a rapport. It's really just an interrogation. If you can handle being yelled at for a week, then you'd pass.
    • nocsi 4y ago
      Polygraphs are a deterrence against weak-willed people. If you're so weak to crack to a machine that measures sweat, heart rate and breathing - you'd probably break some foreign actors. It's basically govt LARPing, but for interrogating hires. The vast majority of people that do polygraphs believe it works, so it's not so useless.
• helsinkiandrew 4y ago
  The CIA also uses polygraphs which have been found "inaccurate, may be defeated by countermeasures, and are an imperfect or invalid means of assessing truthfulness" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph#Effectiveness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph#Effectiveness