Which assessment detects arousal from emotions but is not reliable for detecting deception?

• A. Prejudice
• B. Discrimination
• C. Belongingness
• D. Polygraph Tests

Answer: (D)

Detecting deception with physiological measures rests on the idea that lying often brings emotional arousal, which shows up as changes in bodily states like heart rate, skin conductance, breathing, and blood pressure. A polygraph test records these autonomic responses while a person answers questions. But those arousal signals aren’t unique to deception—many non-deceptive situations (anxiety, fear, excitement, nervousness about the test, caffeine, pain) can produce similar arousal, leading to false positives. Likewise, some individuals can control or mask their arousal, causing false negatives. Because of these reliability problems, the polygraph is not a dependable tool for detecting deception.

The other options don’t fit because they are social psychology concepts about attitudes and group dynamics, not measures of physiological arousal or deception.