GSR is very useful for revealing involuntary reactions to questions, words, pictures, sounds, and other stimuli, whether on others or yourself. Do you want to:
Record reactions like those on more expensive polygraphs?
Use the methods of biofeedback to control anxiety or tension?
Develop a winning science fair project?
Use GSR in the instruction on psychology?
Try polygraph methods before embarking on a career as a polygraph examiner?
Test criminal suspects?
The Galvanic Skin Response, or GSR (also known as Electrodermal Activity, or EDA), has been used for decades by police, government agencies, and psychologists for many useful purposes.
Local
law enforcement agencies may find the GSR can help identify guilty
suspects and clear innocent ones to help focus investigations. Click
on "For Law Enforcement" to see how.
Educators
will find a lesson plan for lecturing on the GSR, complete with links
to images and supporting material. The outline of a classroom
demonstration is also provided. Just click on "For Educators."
GSR has also been used in
clinical practice to help hypnotherapists and psychotherapists. For a
list of supporting research citations, click on "For Clinicians."
Our website
contains lots of suggestions for using the GSR. For the young scientist, the
"Science Fair Ideas" button to the left will take you to over a dozen
free science fair projects, even a handful of non-traditional ideas,
suitable for grade 6 and higher.
Of
course there needed to be a Fun button. This is less science oriented
and more about self discovery. There are ideas for looking at our own
GSRs just for fun.
Also take a look at our GSR Quiz page, and see how well you know GSR.
Sprinkled throughout this site will be links to YouTube videos we designed for use with the GSR. You will also find background information on the variety of technologies used in lie detection, also available in Spanish.
Finally, we are available to collaborate with researchers interested in EDR.
