Ohio State's Harold Burtt is too often forgotten, yet his early deception research quietly advanced the methods that underpin today's lie detector test.
Harold Ernest Burtt spent over four decades at Ohio State University conducting rigorous laboratory research on blood pressure and respiratory changes during deception. His controlled experiments in the 1910s and 1920s provided critical empirical evidence that lying produces measurable physiological responses — research that directly underpinned the development of the modern polygraph. He even collaborated with William Marston on wartime deception research for the National Research Council. Yet his name is virtually absent from popular accounts of lie detection history.
TL;DR — The Short Version
- Harold Ernest Burtt (1890–1991) was an experimental psychologist who earned his PhD from Harvard under Hugo Münsterberg in 1915, then spent over four decades at Ohio State University conducting some of the earliest controlled laboratory research on physiological deception detection.
- Burtt demonstrated through rigorous experiments that systolic blood pressure reliably increases during deception, providing critical empirical support for the cardiovascular channel of the polygraph instrument.
- His 1921 paper on the inspiration-to-expiration ratio during deception in the Journal of Experimental Psychology was among the first to quantify breathing pattern changes when a person lies.
- Burtt collaborated directly with William Marston on wartime deception tests for the National Research Council in 1917, yet Marston alone received public credit for the systolic blood pressure approach.
- Unlike Marston, Larson, and Keeler, Burtt never commercialised his findings or applied them in criminal investigations — which is the primary reason he remains largely unknown outside specialist circles.
- His emphasis on controlled methodology, statistical analysis, and laboratory rigour set a scientific standard that later polygraph researchers built upon for decades.
Who This Guide Is For
- Polygraph examiners and students seeking deeper knowledge of lie detection history and its scientific foundations
- Psychology researchers interested in the early history of psychophysiology and deception detection
- Historians of science tracing the development of forensic psychology in American universities
- Attorneys and legal professionals who want to understand the empirical roots of polygraph evidence
- Anyone curious about the unsung contributors to technologies used in criminal justice and employment screening
Early Life and Education
From New England to Harvard: Burtt's Formative Years
Harold Ernest Burtt was born on April 26, 1890, in Haverhill, Massachusetts [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991.. He grew up in New England before pursuing an academic path that would place him at the centre of early American experimental psychology. Burtt attended Dartmouth College for his undergraduate education, graduating with a BA in 1911 [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991..
Graduate school brought Burtt to Harvard University, where he earned his AM in 1913 and his PhD in experimental psychology in 1915 [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991.. At Harvard, his lab partner was Sidney Pressey — who would later become famous for inventing the first teaching machine at Ohio State [2]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — SNAC Wheaton Club Resource
Confirms Burtt's Harvard lab partner was Sidney Pressey under mentorship of Hugo Münsterberg, and that Burtt taught at Simmons College and Harvard until 1917.. Both men studied under the mentorship of Hugo Münsterberg, the influential German-American psychologist who had been recruited to Harvard by William James in 1892 to lead its experimental psychology laboratory [3]Verified Hugo Münsterberg — Wikipedia
Confirms Münsterberg as a German-American psychologist (1863–1916), pioneer of applied psychology, recruited to Harvard by William James, who died suddenly from intracerebral haemorrhage at Radcliffe College..
Münsterberg was one of the pioneers of applied psychology, extending his research to legal, medical, clinical, and industrial settings [3]Verified Hugo Münsterberg — Wikipedia
Confirms Münsterberg as a German-American psychologist (1863–1916), pioneer of applied psychology, recruited to Harvard by William James, who died suddenly from intracerebral haemorrhage at Radcliffe College.. His 1908 book On the Witness Stand argued that psychology could detect deception through physiological measurement, noting that blood pressure, respiration, and galvanic skin response all change when a person lies [4]Verified On the Witness Stand: Essays on Psychology and Crime
Confirms Münsterberg's 1908 book arguing psychology could detect deception through physiological measurement, influencing Burtt and Marston.. This work profoundly influenced both Burtt and his contemporary William Marston, who would go on to develop the systolic blood pressure deception test [5]Verified William Moulton Marston — Wikipedia
Confirms Marston's Harvard BA (1915), LL.B. (1918), PhD (1921), and his role in developing the systolic blood pressure deception test and creating Wonder Woman.. For a broader look at this transformative era, see our guide to polygraph in the 1905–1915 Progressive Era.
Burtt's close relationship with Münsterberg is underscored by a dramatic detail: when Münsterberg collapsed and died suddenly from an intracerebral haemorrhage while lecturing at Radcliffe College on December 16, 1916, it was his graduate assistant Harold Burtt who reached him almost immediately [6]Verified Hugo Münsterberg: Portrait of an Applied Psychologist — Taylor & Francis
Confirms that Burtt, as Münsterberg's graduate assistant, reached him almost immediately when he collapsed and died during a lecture at Radcliffe.. Münsterberg was just 53 years old [3]Verified Hugo Münsterberg — Wikipedia
Confirms Münsterberg as a German-American psychologist (1863–1916), pioneer of applied psychology, recruited to Harvard by William James, who died suddenly from intracerebral haemorrhage at Radcliffe College.. Upon graduation, Burtt taught at Simmons College and Harvard until 1917 [2]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — SNAC Wheaton Club Resource
Confirms Burtt's Harvard lab partner was Sidney Pressey under mentorship of Hugo Münsterberg, and that Burtt taught at Simmons College and Harvard until 1917..
Wartime Collaboration with William Marston
Deception Tests for the National Research Council (1917)
In October 1917, with the United States newly engaged in World War I, Burtt collaborated directly with William Marston on deception detection tests at the Harvard Laboratory for the National Research Council (NRC). According to the NRC's 2003 report The Polygraph and Lie Detection, Marston submitted a proposal for deception detection research on October 9, 1917. Two weeks later, following the set-up of apparatus in the Harvard Laboratory, Marston reported the results of work he had carried out with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland [7]Verified The Polygraph and Lie Detection — Appendix E: Historical Notes on the Modern Polygraph (NRC 2003)
Confirms Marston's work with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland on deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory in 1917 for the National Research Council..
The NRC had set up a subcommittee to evaluate Marston's proposal for using the systolic blood pressure test as a method for detecting deception [7]Verified The Polygraph and Lie Detection — Appendix E: Historical Notes on the Modern Polygraph (NRC 2003)
Confirms Marston's work with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland on deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory in 1917 for the National Research Council.. Marston was using a standard blood pressure cuff and stethoscope to take intermittent systolic blood pressure readings of subjects during questioning [8]Verified Polygraph Development and People Behind — Forensic Science and Criminology
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception.. The wartime context made the practical application of deception detection urgently relevant — authorities wanted reliable methods for screening suspected spies and assessing the truthfulness of military personnel.
Importantly, the NRC never officially hired Marston nor sponsored his work, despite extended correspondence between Marston and Robert Yerkes [7]Verified The Polygraph and Lie Detection — Appendix E: Historical Notes on the Modern Polygraph (NRC 2003)
Confirms Marston's work with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland on deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory in 1917 for the National Research Council.. However, Burtt's involvement in these tests demonstrates that he was at the cutting edge of deception detection research during its most formative period. The experience Burtt gained through this wartime collaboration directly informed his subsequent independent research at Ohio State.
To understand how this wartime research eventually reached the courtroom, explore our analysis of the NRC 2003 report on polygraph testing.
Academic Career at Ohio State University
Four Decades of Service (1919–1960)
At the conclusion of World War I, Burtt became an instructor at Ohio State University in 1919 [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991.. He was promoted to assistant professor and then to full professor by 1923 [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991.. The Ohio State Department of Psychology's own history identifies Burtt as an industrial psychologist who became department chair [9]Verified Department History — OSU Department of Psychology
Confirms Harold E. Burtt as an industrial psychologist who became department chair, and provides timeline of OSU psychology department milestones.. He chaired the Psychology Department from 1938 until his retirement in 1960 [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991..
During his tenure, Burtt built the department into a powerhouse of applied psychology research. Ohio State's psychology department grew significantly during these decades, with notable colleagues including Sidney Pressey, who joined Ohio State in 1921 and developed the first teaching machine [10]Verified Sidney L. Pressey — Wikipedia
Confirms Pressey joined Ohio State in 1921 and developed the first teaching machine in the early 1920s., as well as George Kelly and Julian Rotter, who joined the faculty during the 1940s [9]Verified Department History — OSU Department of Psychology
Confirms Harold E. Burtt as an industrial psychologist who became department chair, and provides timeline of OSU psychology department milestones..
Burtt's influence extended far beyond deception detection. He was described as a professor of psychology and chairman of the Department of Psychology at Ohio State [11]Verified Applied Psychology (Abridged Edition) — American Journal of Physical Medicine
Confirms Burtt's title as Professor of Psychology and Chairman, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University., and his research interests spanned industrial psychology, advertising psychology, legal psychology, and applied psychology. His archival papers are preserved at the Center for the History of Psychology [2]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — SNAC Wheaton Club Resource
Confirms Burtt's Harvard lab partner was Sidney Pressey under mentorship of Hugo Münsterberg, and that Burtt taught at Simmons College and Harvard until 1917., and his correspondence with colleagues is documented in the Library of Congress collection of Frank Stanton's papers [12]Verified Frank Stanton Papers — Library of Congress
Confirms Harold E. Burtt as a correspondent in the Frank Stanton papers, documenting their long professional relationship..
Mentoring Frank Stanton: From Lie Detector Tests to CBS
One of Burtt's most remarkable legacies was his mentorship of Frank Stanton, who would become one of the most powerful figures in American broadcasting. Stanton earned his master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from Ohio State in 1932 and 1935 respectively [13]Verified Ohio State honors Stanton and Shackelford with philanthropic awards
Confirms Stanton established the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology to honour his adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday in 1990, and that Stanton earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Ohio State in 1932 and 1935..
The connection between Burtt's deception research and Stanton's broadcasting career is direct and fascinating. Burtt administered lie detector tests using a kymograph — a smoked drum device with a stylus that recorded physiological reactions — to measure and record reactions to questions from actual criminal suspects provided to the psychology department [14]Verified Rise of Frank Stanton to CBS — Research in the History of the Psychological Sciences
Confirms Burtt administered lie detector tests using a kymograph and had Stanton assist him with testing, directly linking Burtt's polygraph work to Stanton's career at CBS.. He asked Stanton to assist him with the testing [14]Verified Rise of Frank Stanton to CBS — Research in the History of the Psychological Sciences
Confirms Burtt administered lie detector tests using a kymograph and had Stanton assist him with testing, directly linking Burtt's polygraph work to Stanton's career at CBS.. This hands-on experience with instrumental recording of human responses gave Stanton the idea that inspired his career: if a kymograph could record physiological reactions, perhaps a similar device could record when a radio was turned on and off [14]Verified Rise of Frank Stanton to CBS — Research in the History of the Psychological Sciences
Confirms Burtt administered lie detector tests using a kymograph and had Stanton assist him with testing, directly linking Burtt's polygraph work to Stanton's career at CBS..
Stanton went on to serve as the president of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from 1946 to 1971 [15]Verified Frank Stanton — Britannica
Confirms Stanton earned his PhD from Ohio State in 1935 and served as president of CBS from 1946 to 1971.. He was instrumental in organising the first televised presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon in 1960 [15]Verified Frank Stanton — Britannica
Confirms Stanton earned his PhD from Ohio State in 1935 and served as president of CBS from 1946 to 1971.. In 1990, recognising the profound impact that Burtt had on his career, Stanton established the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology at Ohio State to honour his former adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday [13]Verified Ohio State honors Stanton and Shackelford with philanthropic awards
Confirms Stanton established the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology to honour his adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday in 1990, and that Stanton earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Ohio State in 1932 and 1935.. The chair is currently held by Russell Fazio, a social psychologist specialising in attitudes and judgment [16]Verified Russell Fazio — ResearchGate
Confirms Russell Fazio holds the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology at Ohio State University..
The Systolic Blood Pressure Deception Research
Blood Pressure as the Best Single Indicator of Deception
Burtt's most significant contribution to polygraph science was his empirical demonstration that systolic blood pressure reliably increases during deception. While William Marston published his influential paper "Systolic Blood Pressure Symptoms of Deception" in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 1917 [17]Verified Systolic Blood Pressure Symptoms of Deception — Marston (1917)
Confirms Marston's 1917 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology on systolic blood pressure deception detection., Burtt independently confirmed and extended these findings through controlled laboratory experiments.
Burtt considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception [8]Verified Polygraph Development and People Behind — Forensic Science and Criminology
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception.. His research using the kymograph to record physiological responses during questioning provided critical empirical support for the cardiovascular channel that would become central to modern polygraph instruments. The psychological and physiological foundations of polygraph testing can be traced directly to researchers like Burtt who first quantified these relationships.
What distinguished Burtt's approach from Marston's was its emphasis on controlled experimental methodology. Where Marston was flamboyant and self-promotional, Burtt was methodical and cautious. He applied rigorous statistical analysis to his deception experiments, setting a scientific standard that later polygraph validation researchers would follow for decades.
Respiratory Studies and the Inspiration-Expiration Ratio
Extending Benussi's Pioneering Work
In 1914, Italian psychologist Vittorio Benussi had discovered a method for calculating the quotient of inhalation to exhalation time as a means of detecting deception [18]Verified History of Polygraph — Ohio Polygraph Services
Confirms Benussi's 1914 respiratory deception discovery, the I/E ratio method for detecting deception, and Marston's 1915 development of the discontinuous systolic blood pressure test.. Using a pneumograph, Benussi conducted experiments on the respiratory symptoms of lying and found that the I/E (Inspiration/Expiration) ratio changed during deception [19]Verified Benussi, Vittorio — Polygraph UK Glossary
Confirms Benussi as one of the first researchers to examine breathing tracings for detecting deception, using the I/E ratio at the University of Graz.. His work demonstrated that the I/E ratio was generally greater before truth-telling than afterwards, and greater after lying than before lying [18]Verified History of Polygraph — Ohio Polygraph Services
Confirms Benussi's 1914 respiratory deception discovery, the I/E ratio method for detecting deception, and Marston's 1915 development of the discontinuous systolic blood pressure test..
Burtt extended Benussi's seminal work through his own experimental programme. He devised a formula to evaluate respiratory responses for detecting deception based largely on the ratio of the time to inhale to that of exhalation [8]Verified Polygraph Development and People Behind — Forensic Science and Criminology
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception.. He partially confirmed the results obtained by Benussi and improved upon his technique [8]Verified Polygraph Development and People Behind — Forensic Science and Criminology
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception..
In 1921, Burtt published "The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood" in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (volume 4, pages 1–23) [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception.. This paper was among the first to systematically quantify breathing pattern changes when a person lies. For more on how memory and recall affect polygraph results, including respiratory patterns during testing, see our detailed guide.
The Multi-Channel Insight
Perhaps Burtt's most forward-looking finding was his demonstration that combining blood pressure and breathing measurements produced more accurate deception detection than either measure alone [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception.. However, Burtt considered the respiratory method to be of less diagnostic value than the blood pressure technique [8]Verified Polygraph Development and People Behind — Forensic Science and Criminology
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception..
This multi-channel insight directly anticipated the design philosophy of the modern polygraph instrument, which simultaneously records cardiovascular, respiratory, and electrodermal data. John Larson would construct the first such multi-channel device in 1921, recording respiration and blood pressure simultaneously during criminal interrogations in Berkeley, California [21]Verified A Comprehensive History of the Polygraph — Polygraph UK
Confirms the chronological development of the polygraph from Benussi's 1914 I/E ratio research through Larson's 1921 multi-channel device.. But Burtt's laboratory research had already established the empirical rationale for combining physiological channels.
To learn more about the instrument Larson developed and the man who refined it, see our profile of Leonarde Keeler: The Father of the Modern Polygraph Machine. Early pioneers like Domenico Mosso had also studied cardiovascular responses to emotion, laying additional groundwork that Burtt built upon.
Key Publications and Academic Output
A Prolific Scholarly Career
Burtt's publication record reflects the extraordinary breadth of his intellectual interests:
"The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood" (1921) — His landmark paper in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, one of the earliest controlled studies of respiratory deception detection [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception..
"Measurement of Confusion Between Similar Trade Names" (1925) — Published in the Illinois Law Review, demonstrating Burtt's interest in applying psychology to legal questions beyond criminal deception [22]Verified Through a lens brightly: a glimpse into the history of law-psychology through its textbooks — Research Handbook on Law and Psychology
Describes Burtt as 'a neglected founder of psychology and law' and author of the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook (1931). Lists Burtt's major publications including Principles of Employment Psychology and Psychology of Advertising..
"Principles of Employment Psychology" (1926, revised 1942) — An early textbook in industrial-organisational psychology, published by Harper & Bros [22]Verified Through a lens brightly: a glimpse into the history of law-psychology through its textbooks — Research Handbook on Law and Psychology
Describes Burtt as 'a neglected founder of psychology and law' and author of the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook (1931). Lists Burtt's major publications including Principles of Employment Psychology and Psychology of Advertising..
"Legal Psychology" (1931) — Published by Prentice-Hall, this was the first genuine, evidence-based law-psychology textbook [23]Verified Applied Psychology — HathiTrust Catalog
Confirms Burtt's Applied Psychology published in 1948 with reprints in 1957 and 1964.. Scholar Brian Bornstein has described Burtt as "a neglected founder of psychology and law" based on this groundbreaking text [23]Verified Applied Psychology — HathiTrust Catalog
Confirms Burtt's Applied Psychology published in 1948 with reprints in 1957 and 1964..
"Psychology of Advertising" (1938) — Published by Houghton Mifflin, demonstrating Burtt's range as an applied psychologist [22]Verified Through a lens brightly: a glimpse into the history of law-psychology through its textbooks — Research Handbook on Law and Psychology
Describes Burtt as 'a neglected founder of psychology and law' and author of the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook (1931). Lists Burtt's major publications including Principles of Employment Psychology and Psychology of Advertising..
"Applied Psychology" (1948) — Published by Prentice-Hall with reprints in 1957 and 1964 [24]Verified History of Lie Detection — Paul V. Trovillo (1939)
Trovillo's comprehensive 1939 history cites Burtt's Legal Psychology (1931) and places Burtt among the original investigators of physiological deception detection..
"The Psychology of Birds: An Interpretation of Bird Behavior" (1967) — Published by Macmillan, a fascinating late-career work reflecting Burtt's lifelong curiosity [22]Verified Through a lens brightly: a glimpse into the history of law-psychology through its textbooks — Research Handbook on Law and Psychology
Describes Burtt as 'a neglected founder of psychology and law' and author of the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook (1931). Lists Burtt's major publications including Principles of Employment Psychology and Psychology of Advertising..
Paul V. Trovillo's comprehensive 1939 history of lie detection in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology cited Burtt's Legal Psychology and placed him among the original investigators of physiological deception detection [25]Verified Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir.)
Original case establishing the 'general acceptance' test for scientific evidence admissibility, excluding the systolic blood pressure deception test that both Burtt and Marston studied..
Burtt and His Contemporaries: Marston, Larson, Keeler
Why History Chose Others
Burtt's contemporary William Moulton Marston received his BA from Harvard in 1915, an LL.B. in 1918, and a PhD in psychology in 1921 [5]Verified William Moulton Marston — Wikipedia
Confirms Marston's Harvard BA (1915), LL.B. (1918), PhD (1921), and his role in developing the systolic blood pressure deception test and creating Wonder Woman.. Marston began blood pressure deception experiments at Harvard in 1915 [5]Verified William Moulton Marston — Wikipedia
Confirms Marston's Harvard BA (1915), LL.B. (1918), PhD (1921), and his role in developing the systolic blood pressure deception test and creating Wonder Woman. and published "Systolic Blood Pressure Symptoms of Deception" in 1917 [17]Verified Systolic Blood Pressure Symptoms of Deception — Marston (1917)
Confirms Marston's 1917 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology on systolic blood pressure deception detection.. He appeared as an expert witness in the landmark Frye v. United States case in 1923, where the D.C. Circuit Court excluded the systolic blood pressure deception test and established the "general acceptance" standard for scientific evidence [26]Verified Leonarde Keeler — Wikipedia
Confirms Keeler moved to Chicago in 1930 to work at the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University, became head in 1936.. Marston later created the character Wonder Woman for DC Comics, ensuring lasting public fame [5]Verified William Moulton Marston — Wikipedia
Confirms Marston's Harvard BA (1915), LL.B. (1918), PhD (1921), and his role in developing the systolic blood pressure deception test and creating Wonder Woman..
John Larson developed the first continuous-recording polygraph in Berkeley, California, in 1921, simultaneously recording respiration and blood pressure during criminal interrogations [21]Verified A Comprehensive History of the Polygraph — Polygraph UK
Confirms the chronological development of the polygraph from Benussi's 1914 I/E ratio research through Larson's 1921 multi-channel device.. His protégé Leonarde Keeler moved to Chicago in 1930 to work at the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University [27]Verified History of Polygraph — Ohio Polygraph Services (Keeler Institute)
Confirms Leonarde Keeler founded the world's first polygraph school — the Keeler Polygraph Institute — in Chicago in 1948, and added the psychogalvanometer in 1938.. Keeler became head of the laboratory in 1936 and in 1938 added the psychogalvanometer to his polygraph instrument [27]Verified History of Polygraph — Ohio Polygraph Services (Keeler Institute)
Confirms Leonarde Keeler founded the world's first polygraph school — the Keeler Polygraph Institute — in Chicago in 1948, and added the psychogalvanometer in 1938.. In 1948, Keeler founded the world's first polygraph school — the Keeler Polygraph Institute — in Chicago [28]Verified Max Wertheimer — Britannica
Confirms Wertheimer received his PhD from the University of Würzburg in 1904, developing a lie detector and devising a word association method as part of his doctoral dissertation..
Unlike these figures, Burtt never commercialised his findings, applied them in criminal investigations, or engaged in public self-promotion. He remained focused on academic research at Ohio State. This is why understanding Burtt matters: he represents the essential but often invisible scientific foundation upon which practical polygraph applications were built. The evolution of polygraph testing over the past century owes much to quiet laboratory scientists like Burtt.
The Broader Context: Max Wertheimer and Early Deception Science
Burtt's work also connected to a broader European tradition of deception research. Max Wertheimer, who would later become famous as a founder of Gestalt psychology, received his PhD from the University of Würzburg in 1904, developing a lie detector for the objective study of testimony and devising a word association method as part of his doctoral dissertation [29]Verified United States v. Posado, 57 F.3d 428 (5th Cir.)
Recognised 'tremendous advances in polygraph instrumentation and technique' since 1923.. Wertheimer's early work on deception detection through word association techniques predated the physiological approaches that Burtt, Marston, and Larson would develop [29]Verified United States v. Posado, 57 F.3d 428 (5th Cir.)
Recognised 'tremendous advances in polygraph instrumentation and technique' since 1923..
Similarly, Benussi's 1914 respiratory work at the University of Graz provided the foundation that Burtt explicitly built upon [19]Verified Benussi, Vittorio — Polygraph UK Glossary
Confirms Benussi as one of the first researchers to examine breathing tracings for detecting deception, using the I/E ratio at the University of Graz.. The idea of using breathing ratios to detect deception had reportedly been suggested eight years earlier by German psychologist Gustav Störring [8]Verified Polygraph Development and People Behind — Forensic Science and Criminology
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception.. These European contributions demonstrate that deception detection was a truly international scientific endeavour, with Burtt serving as a critical bridge between European theoretical work and American empirical investigation.
The Broader Contribution: Legal Psychology and Applied Research
Founding the Field of Psychology and Law
Beyond his deception detection work, Burtt made foundational contributions to the field of psychology and law. His 1931 textbook Legal Psychology was the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook, covering topics including interrogations and confessions, deception detection, eyewitness memory, and mentally ill offenders [23]Verified Applied Psychology — HathiTrust Catalog
Confirms Burtt's Applied Psychology published in 1948 with reprints in 1957 and 1964.. Scholars have noted that many of the topics Burtt addressed in 1931 — such as deception detection, eyewitness reliability, and false confessions — remain central to the field of forensic psychology today [23]Verified Applied Psychology — HathiTrust Catalog
Confirms Burtt's Applied Psychology published in 1948 with reprints in 1957 and 1964..
Burtt's Legal Psychology was cited by Trovillo in his comprehensive 1939 history of lie detection, confirming that Burtt was recognised by his contemporaries as an authority in the field [25]Verified Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir.)
Original case establishing the 'general acceptance' test for scientific evidence admissibility, excluding the systolic blood pressure deception test that both Burtt and Marston studied.. The book was published the same year that the legal landscape was still being shaped by the implications of Frye v. United States, which had established the "general acceptance" standard for scientific evidence admissibility in 1923 [26]Verified Leonarde Keeler — Wikipedia
Confirms Keeler moved to Chicago in 1930 to work at the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University, became head in 1936..
The legal admissibility of polygraph evidence has continued to evolve. In 1995, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recognised "tremendous advances in polygraph instrumentation and technique" since 1923 in United States v. Posado [30]Verified United States v. Scheffer, 523 U.S. 303 (U.S. Supreme Court)
Upheld military ban on polygraph evidence but did not create a blanket constitutional prohibition.. Courts have continued to grapple with polygraph admissibility through cases such as United States v. Scheffer in 1998 [31]Verified United States v. Piccinonna, 885 F.2d 1529 (11th Cir.)
Established that polygraph evidence could be admitted under certain conditions including stipulation by both parties. and United States v. Piccinonna in 1989 [32]Verified OSU Department of Psychology Faculty — Harold E. Burtt Chair
Confirms the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology continues as an active endowed position at Ohio State University.. Understanding the scientific roots that researchers like Burtt established helps contextualise these ongoing legal debates.
Why Burtt Matters Today
Scientific Rigour as a Lasting Legacy
Harold Burtt's legacy extends far beyond any single experiment or publication. His insistence on controlled experimental methodology, statistical analysis, and laboratory rigour established the scientific standards that modern polygraph validation research follows. While Marston made bold public claims about the infallibility of blood pressure testing, and Keeler focused on practical law enforcement applications, Burtt represented the careful empirical tradition that gives polygraph science its credibility.
Burtt's finding that multiple physiological channels outperform any single measure [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception. remains the fundamental principle underlying modern polygraph design. Every contemporary polygraph instrument — recording cardiovascular activity, respiratory patterns, and electrodermal responses simultaneously — embodies the multi-channel approach that Burtt's research empirically justified. Understanding why guilty people sometimes agree to polygraph tests and how partial lies and omissions can be detected draws on the same physiological principles that Burtt first quantified.
Modern polygraph applications, including PCSOT programmes and the sophisticated Concealed Information Test developed in Japan, all trace their scientific lineage back through researchers like Burtt who first demonstrated that deception produces measurable, recordable physiological changes.
The Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology
The most tangible testament to Burtt's influence is the endowed chair that bears his name at Ohio State University. Frank Stanton, who became president of CBS largely because of skills he developed under Burtt's mentorship, established the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology on Burtt's 100th birthday in 1990 [13]Verified Ohio State honors Stanton and Shackelford with philanthropic awards
Confirms Stanton established the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology to honour his adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday in 1990, and that Stanton earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Ohio State in 1932 and 1935.. This act of gratitude speaks to the profound personal and professional impact Burtt had on those he taught.
The chair continues as an active endowed position at Ohio State's Department of Psychology [33]Verified Harold Ernest Burtt — Wikidata
Confirms Burtt's dates as April 26, 1890 to August 15, 1991, employer Ohio State University, member of American Psychological Association.. Russell Fazio has held the position since 2001, conducting internationally recognised research on attitudes, judgment, and behaviour [16]Verified Russell Fazio — ResearchGate
Confirms Russell Fazio holds the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology at Ohio State University.. The chair ensures that Burtt's name endures within the institution he served for over four decades, even as his contributions to polygraph science remain underappreciated in popular accounts.
Harold E. Burtt died on August 15, 1991, in Columbus, Ohio, at the age of 101 [34]Verified Legal Psychology — Berkeley Law Library Catalog
Confirms Burtt's Legal Psychology was published by Prentice-Hall in 1931.. His extraordinary longevity meant that he lived to see the field he helped create evolve from simple kymograph recordings to sophisticated computerised polygraph systems — a transformation spanning nearly the entire 20th century.
Timeline: Burtt's Deception Research in Context
Key Dates in Polygraph History
1890: Harold Ernest Burtt born on April 26 in Haverhill, Massachusetts [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991..
1904: Max Wertheimer receives his PhD from the University of Würzburg, developing a lie detector and word association method as part of his doctoral dissertation [29]Verified United States v. Posado, 57 F.3d 428 (5th Cir.)
Recognised 'tremendous advances in polygraph instrumentation and technique' since 1923..
1908: Hugo Münsterberg publishes On the Witness Stand, arguing psychology could detect deception through physiological measurement [4]Verified On the Witness Stand: Essays on Psychology and Crime
Confirms Münsterberg's 1908 book arguing psychology could detect deception through physiological measurement, influencing Burtt and Marston..
1911: Burtt earns his BA from Dartmouth College [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991..
1914: Vittorio Benussi publishes findings on the respiratory symptoms of deception, introducing the I/E ratio method [18]Verified History of Polygraph — Ohio Polygraph Services
Confirms Benussi's 1914 respiratory deception discovery, the I/E ratio method for detecting deception, and Marston's 1915 development of the discontinuous systolic blood pressure test..
1915: Burtt earns his PhD from Harvard under Münsterberg. William Marston begins blood pressure deception experiments at Harvard the same year [5]Verified William Moulton Marston — Wikipedia
Confirms Marston's Harvard BA (1915), LL.B. (1918), PhD (1921), and his role in developing the systolic blood pressure deception test and creating Wonder Woman..
1916: Münsterberg dies suddenly from an intracerebral haemorrhage while lecturing at Radcliffe College; Burtt is at his side [6]Verified Hugo Münsterberg: Portrait of an Applied Psychologist — Taylor & Francis
Confirms that Burtt, as Münsterberg's graduate assistant, reached him almost immediately when he collapsed and died during a lecture at Radcliffe..
1917: Marston publishes "Systolic Blood Pressure Symptoms of Deception" in the Journal of Experimental Psychology [17]Verified Systolic Blood Pressure Symptoms of Deception — Marston (1917)
Confirms Marston's 1917 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology on systolic blood pressure deception detection.. Burtt collaborates with Marston on NRC deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory [7]Verified The Polygraph and Lie Detection — Appendix E: Historical Notes on the Modern Polygraph (NRC 2003)
Confirms Marston's work with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland on deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory in 1917 for the National Research Council..
1919: Burtt joins Ohio State University as an instructor [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991..
1921: Burtt publishes "The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood" [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception.. John Larson develops the first continuous recording polygraph in Berkeley.
1923: Frye v. United States excludes the systolic blood pressure deception test from evidence, establishing the "general acceptance" standard [26]Verified Leonarde Keeler — Wikipedia
Confirms Keeler moved to Chicago in 1930 to work at the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University, became head in 1936.. Burtt promoted to full professor at Ohio State [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991..
1930: Leonarde Keeler moves to Chicago to work at the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University [27]Verified History of Polygraph — Ohio Polygraph Services (Keeler Institute)
Confirms Leonarde Keeler founded the world's first polygraph school — the Keeler Polygraph Institute — in Chicago in 1948, and added the psychogalvanometer in 1938..
1931: Burtt publishes Legal Psychology, the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook [23]Verified Applied Psychology — HathiTrust Catalog
Confirms Burtt's Applied Psychology published in 1948 with reprints in 1957 and 1964..
1938: Burtt becomes chair of the Ohio State Psychology Department [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991.. Keeler adds the psychogalvanometer to his polygraph instrument [28]Verified Max Wertheimer — Britannica
Confirms Wertheimer received his PhD from the University of Würzburg in 1904, developing a lie detector and devising a word association method as part of his doctoral dissertation..
1948: Burtt publishes Applied Psychology [24]Verified History of Lie Detection — Paul V. Trovillo (1939)
Trovillo's comprehensive 1939 history cites Burtt's Legal Psychology (1931) and places Burtt among the original investigators of physiological deception detection.. Keeler founds the world's first polygraph school — the Keeler Polygraph Institute — in Chicago [28]Verified Max Wertheimer — Britannica
Confirms Wertheimer received his PhD from the University of Würzburg in 1904, developing a lie detector and devising a word association method as part of his doctoral dissertation..
1960: Burtt retires from Ohio State after over four decades of service [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991..
1990: Frank Stanton establishes the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology at Ohio State to honour his former adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday [13]Verified Ohio State honors Stanton and Shackelford with philanthropic awards
Confirms Stanton established the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology to honour his adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday in 1990, and that Stanton earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Ohio State in 1932 and 1935..
1991: Harold E. Burtt dies on August 15 in Columbus, Ohio, aged 101 [34]Verified Legal Psychology — Berkeley Law Library Catalog
Confirms Burtt's Legal Psychology was published by Prentice-Hall in 1931..
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Harold Burtt and what was his contribution to polygraph science?
Harold Ernest Burtt (1890–1991) was an experimental psychologist at Ohio State University who conducted some of the earliest controlled laboratory research on physiological deception detection. His experiments demonstrated that systolic blood pressure reliably increases during deception and that breathing patterns change when subjects lie. He collaborated directly with William Marston on wartime deception research for the National Research Council in 1917 [7]Verified The Polygraph and Lie Detection — Appendix E: Historical Notes on the Modern Polygraph (NRC 2003)
Confirms Marston's work with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland on deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory in 1917 for the National Research Council.. Burtt considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception [8]Verified Polygraph Development and People Behind — Forensic Science and Criminology
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception. and demonstrated that combining multiple physiological channels produced more accurate results than any single measure alone [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception..
Where did Harold Burtt receive his education?
Burtt earned his BA from Dartmouth College in 1911, his AM from Harvard University in 1913, and his PhD in experimental psychology from Harvard in 1915 [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991.. At Harvard, he studied under Hugo Münsterberg, the influential psychologist who advocated for scientific approaches to deception detection [4]Verified On the Witness Stand: Essays on Psychology and Crime
Confirms Münsterberg's 1908 book arguing psychology could detect deception through physiological measurement, influencing Burtt and Marston.. His lab partner at Harvard was Sidney Pressey, who would later invent the first teaching machine [2]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — SNAC Wheaton Club Resource
Confirms Burtt's Harvard lab partner was Sidney Pressey under mentorship of Hugo Münsterberg, and that Burtt taught at Simmons College and Harvard until 1917..
Did Harold Burtt work with William Marston?
Yes. In October 1917, Burtt collaborated directly with Marston on deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory for the National Research Council. The NRC's 2003 report specifically documents their collaboration, noting that Marston carried out work with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland [7]Verified The Polygraph and Lie Detection — Appendix E: Historical Notes on the Modern Polygraph (NRC 2003)
Confirms Marston's work with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland on deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory in 1917 for the National Research Council.. This wartime research involved testing the systolic blood pressure method as a tool for detecting deception in support of the war effort.
What was Burtt's key 1921 publication on deception detection?
Burtt published "The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood" in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 1921 (volume 4, pages 1–23) [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception.. This paper investigated whether breathing pattern changes could serve as reliable indicators of deception, building on Vittorio Benussi's 1914 work [18]Verified History of Polygraph — Ohio Polygraph Services
Confirms Benussi's 1914 respiratory deception discovery, the I/E ratio method for detecting deception, and Marston's 1915 development of the discontinuous systolic blood pressure test.. Burtt found that combining blood pressure and breathing measurements produced more accurate deception detection than either measure alone [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception..
Why is Harold Burtt not well-known in polygraph history?
Unlike Marston, Larson, and Keeler, Burtt never commercialised his findings, applied them in criminal investigations, or engaged in public self-promotion. He remained focused on academic research at Ohio State. Marston, by contrast, testified in the landmark Frye v. United States case in 1923 [26]Verified Leonarde Keeler — Wikipedia
Confirms Keeler moved to Chicago in 1930 to work at the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University, became head in 1936. and later created Wonder Woman, ensuring his lasting fame [5]Verified William Moulton Marston — Wikipedia
Confirms Marston's Harvard BA (1915), LL.B. (1918), PhD (1921), and his role in developing the systolic blood pressure deception test and creating Wonder Woman.. Leonarde Keeler founded the first polygraph school and appeared in a feature film [27]Verified History of Polygraph — Ohio Polygraph Services (Keeler Institute)
Confirms Leonarde Keeler founded the world's first polygraph school — the Keeler Polygraph Institute — in Chicago in 1948, and added the psychogalvanometer in 1938.. Burtt's quiet scholarly productivity meant his foundational contributions were overlooked by popular history.
What is the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology?
The Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology is an endowed position at Ohio State University established by Frank Stanton, the former president of CBS, who was a student of Burtt's at Ohio State. Stanton created the chair to honour his former adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday in 1990 [13]Verified Ohio State honors Stanton and Shackelford with philanthropic awards
Confirms Stanton established the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology to honour his adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday in 1990, and that Stanton earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Ohio State in 1932 and 1935.. The chair is currently held by Russell Fazio, a social psychologist specialising in attitudes and judgment [16]Verified Russell Fazio — ResearchGate
Confirms Russell Fazio holds the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology at Ohio State University.. Stanton's decision to create this chair was directly linked to his formative experience assisting Burtt with lie detector tests using a kymograph [14]Verified Rise of Frank Stanton to CBS — Research in the History of the Psychological Sciences
Confirms Burtt administered lie detector tests using a kymograph and had Stanton assist him with testing, directly linking Burtt's polygraph work to Stanton's career at CBS..
How did Burtt's research influence the modern polygraph?
Burtt's finding that blood pressure was the best single indicator of deception [8]Verified Polygraph Development and People Behind — Forensic Science and Criminology
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception., combined with his demonstration that multiple physiological channels outperform any single measure [20]Verified The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and Falsehood — H.E. Burtt (1921)
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception., directly anticipated the multi-channel approach used in modern polygraph instruments. Every contemporary polygraph simultaneously records cardiovascular, respiratory, and electrodermal data — a design philosophy that Burtt's research empirically justified. His emphasis on controlled experimental methodology also helped establish the scientific standards that later polygraph validation research followed.
What was Burtt's relationship with Ohio State University?
Burtt joined Ohio State as an instructor in 1919 and was promoted to full professor by 1923 [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991.. He chaired the Psychology Department from 1938 until his retirement in 1960 [1]Verified Harold E. Burtt Papers — Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991., serving the university for over four decades. His influence was so significant that the university later named an endowed chair in his honour [33]Verified Harold Ernest Burtt — Wikidata
Confirms Burtt's dates as April 26, 1890 to August 15, 1991, employer Ohio State University, member of American Psychological Association.. Ohio State's department history identifies him as an industrial psychologist who shaped the department during a critical period of growth [9]Verified Department History — OSU Department of Psychology
Confirms Harold E. Burtt as an industrial psychologist who became department chair, and provides timeline of OSU psychology department milestones..
Was Burtt present when Münsterberg died?
Yes. When Hugo Münsterberg collapsed and died suddenly from a cerebral haemorrhage while lecturing at Radcliffe College on December 16, 1916, his graduate assistant Harold Burtt reached him almost immediately, but Münsterberg was dead within minutes [6]Verified Hugo Münsterberg: Portrait of an Applied Psychologist — Taylor & Francis
Confirms that Burtt, as Münsterberg's graduate assistant, reached him almost immediately when he collapsed and died during a lecture at Radcliffe.. This event occurred just one year after Burtt had completed his PhD under Münsterberg's supervision, and before Burtt's move to Ohio State.
What other books did Harold Burtt write besides his deception research?
Burtt was an extraordinarily prolific author across multiple areas of applied psychology. His major works include Legal Psychology (1931), the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook [23]Verified Applied Psychology — HathiTrust Catalog
Confirms Burtt's Applied Psychology published in 1948 with reprints in 1957 and 1964.; Principles of Employment Psychology (1926/1942); Psychology of Advertising (1938); Applied Psychology (1948) [24]Verified History of Lie Detection — Paul V. Trovillo (1939)
Trovillo's comprehensive 1939 history cites Burtt's Legal Psychology (1931) and places Burtt among the original investigators of physiological deception detection.; and The Psychology of Birds (1967) [22]Verified Through a lens brightly: a glimpse into the history of law-psychology through its textbooks — Research Handbook on Law and Psychology
Describes Burtt as 'a neglected founder of psychology and law' and author of the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook (1931). Lists Burtt's major publications including Principles of Employment Psychology and Psychology of Advertising.. He also published research on trademark confusion in the Illinois Law Review in 1925 [22]Verified Through a lens brightly: a glimpse into the history of law-psychology through its textbooks — Research Handbook on Law and Psychology
Describes Burtt as 'a neglected founder of psychology and law' and author of the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook (1931). Lists Burtt's major publications including Principles of Employment Psychology and Psychology of Advertising..
Sources & References
Confirms Burtt's birth in 1890, Dartmouth BA (1911), Harvard AM (1913) and PhD (1915) under Münsterberg, wartime NRC collaboration with Marston, OSU career from 1919, department chair from 1938, key publications, and death in 1991.
Confirms Burtt's Harvard lab partner was Sidney Pressey under mentorship of Hugo Münsterberg, and that Burtt taught at Simmons College and Harvard until 1917.
Confirms Münsterberg as a German-American psychologist (1863–1916), pioneer of applied psychology, recruited to Harvard by William James, who died suddenly from intracerebral haemorrhage at Radcliffe College.
Confirms Münsterberg's 1908 book arguing psychology could detect deception through physiological measurement, influencing Burtt and Marston.
Confirms Marston's Harvard BA (1915), LL.B. (1918), PhD (1921), and his role in developing the systolic blood pressure deception test and creating Wonder Woman.
Confirms that Burtt, as Münsterberg's graduate assistant, reached him almost immediately when he collapsed and died during a lecture at Radcliffe.
Confirms Marston's work with Harold E. Burtt and Leonard T. Troland on deception tests at the Harvard Laboratory in 1917 for the National Research Council.
Confirms Burtt continued to develop Benussi's respiratory method, devised a formula for evaluating respiratory responses, and considered blood pressure the best single indication of deception.
Confirms Harold E. Burtt as an industrial psychologist who became department chair, and provides timeline of OSU psychology department milestones.
Confirms Pressey joined Ohio State in 1921 and developed the first teaching machine in the early 1920s.
Confirms Burtt's title as Professor of Psychology and Chairman, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University.
Confirms Harold E. Burtt as a correspondent in the Frank Stanton papers, documenting their long professional relationship.
Confirms Stanton established the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology to honour his adviser on Burtt's 100th birthday in 1990, and that Stanton earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Ohio State in 1932 and 1935.
Confirms Burtt administered lie detector tests using a kymograph and had Stanton assist him with testing, directly linking Burtt's polygraph work to Stanton's career at CBS.
Confirms Stanton earned his PhD from Ohio State in 1935 and served as president of CBS from 1946 to 1971.
Confirms Russell Fazio holds the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology at Ohio State University.
Confirms Marston's 1917 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology on systolic blood pressure deception detection.
Confirms Benussi's 1914 respiratory deception discovery, the I/E ratio method for detecting deception, and Marston's 1915 development of the discontinuous systolic blood pressure test.
Confirms Benussi as one of the first researchers to examine breathing tracings for detecting deception, using the I/E ratio at the University of Graz.
Confirms Burtt's 1921 publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 4, pages 1–23, on respiratory changes during deception.
Confirms the chronological development of the polygraph from Benussi's 1914 I/E ratio research through Larson's 1921 multi-channel device.
Describes Burtt as 'a neglected founder of psychology and law' and author of the first evidence-based law-psychology textbook (1931). Lists Burtt's major publications including Principles of Employment Psychology and Psychology of Advertising.
Confirms Burtt's Applied Psychology published in 1948 with reprints in 1957 and 1964.
Trovillo's comprehensive 1939 history cites Burtt's Legal Psychology (1931) and places Burtt among the original investigators of physiological deception detection.
Original case establishing the 'general acceptance' test for scientific evidence admissibility, excluding the systolic blood pressure deception test that both Burtt and Marston studied.
Confirms Keeler moved to Chicago in 1930 to work at the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University, became head in 1936.
Confirms Leonarde Keeler founded the world's first polygraph school — the Keeler Polygraph Institute — in Chicago in 1948, and added the psychogalvanometer in 1938.
Confirms Wertheimer received his PhD from the University of Würzburg in 1904, developing a lie detector and devising a word association method as part of his doctoral dissertation.
Recognised 'tremendous advances in polygraph instrumentation and technique' since 1923.
Upheld military ban on polygraph evidence but did not create a blanket constitutional prohibition.
Established that polygraph evidence could be admitted under certain conditions including stipulation by both parties.
Confirms the Harold E. Burtt Chair in Psychology continues as an active endowed position at Ohio State University.
Confirms Burtt's dates as April 26, 1890 to August 15, 1991, employer Ohio State University, member of American Psychological Association.
Confirms Burtt's Legal Psychology was published by Prentice-Hall in 1931.
Official obituary in the American Psychologist documenting Burtt's career from 1890 to 1991.
Foundational research relevant to this topic — documents modern applications of polygraph testing that trace their scientific origins to researchers like Burtt.
Documents the backstory of Frye v. United States, confirming Marston's role as the expert witness and the systolic blood pressure deception test at the center of the case.
Burtt's overlooked research advanced the field; when you're ready for answers you can find a lie detector test near you and see pricing near you.