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Attitudinal Consequences of the Preemployment Polygraph Examination 1
Author(s) -
White Lawrence T.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1984.tb02244.x
Subject(s) - polygraph , psychology , distrust , social psychology , work (physics) , feeling , applied psychology , mechanical engineering , engineering , psychotherapist
An important factor concerning the use of the polygraph in employment settings has been overlooked: How does the polygraph experience affect a new employee's work‐related attitudes? In two experiments, subjects were exposed to different hiring scenarios‐one included a polygraph examination, the other did not—and then responded to a questionnaire of work‐related attitudes. Results indicated that preemployment polygraph examinations may induce negative work‐related attitudes. These findings suggest that the polygraph experience acts as a symbolic communication from the employer to the prospective employee, imparting information that may induce feelings of distrust and dislike. Moreover, the polygraph experience may be interpreted by prospective employees as evidence of high levels of employee theft, thus establishing a new (higher) norm of peer theft behavior.