"YOU know the power of my magic lasso. No one bound by it can tell a lie." These famous lines are spoken by Wonder Woman, one of DC Comics' most iconic superheroes, when she uses her intriguing weapon, the Lasso of Truth.
While Wonder Woman and her golden lasso are fictional, it's interesting to note that the same man who created her also invented the lie detector test, a technique designed to determine whether someone is telling the truth.
Could the concept of the Lasso of Truth and the Polygraph Test both have originated from the imagination of the same person?
Verdict:
TRUE
Dr William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, is also generally credited with inventing the polygraph test, specifically the systolic blood pressure test, which is a key component of the modern lie detection method.
In 1915, Marston proposed that a person's blood pressure could influence their mood and that when someone is stressed or lying during questioning, their blood pressure would increase.
This idea was incorporated into the polygraph test, which also monitors the subject’s heart rate, among other parameters, to detect deception.
Although the merits and effectiveness of the polygraph machine have been debated since its invention, it remains in use by law enforcement agencies and government facilities as part of their entrance examinations.
Wonder Woman, created by Marston, made her first appearance in DC Comics in 1941. Even then, she was equipped with her iconic bullet-deflecting bracelets and the Golden Lasso of Truth.
References:
https://barrybradford.com/wonder-woman-and-the-lie-detector/
