Personality Assessment Inventory Cognitive Bias Scale: Validation in a Military Sample

Objective: Recently, in a mixed neuropsychological outpatient sample, a measure of cognitive response bias has been developed for the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) called the Cognitive Bias Scale (CBS). This study sought to cross-validate this measure in a military sample. Method: Retrospective review of 197 active duty soldiers referred to an Army outpatient clinic for neuropsychological evaluation. Groups were created based on the number of failed performance validity tests (0, 1, or 2-3 performance validity testing [PVT] failures). Results: The magnitude of effect for the 10-item CBS scale was medium-to-large when comparing those with one PVT failure to those with two to three (d = .98) and those with no failures (d = 1.21); however, effects between the 1 and 2-3 PVT failure groups were less pronounced. In 1 and 2-3 PVT failure groups, a score of << 16 had high specificity (.92 and.95, respectively) and low to moderate sensitivity (.20 and.55, respectively). Conclusions: In a military sample, the CBS demonstrated high specificity with relatively low sensitivity. The measure operated similarly to the original study and the current data supports the CBS to rule in, but not rule out, over-reported cognitive symptoms on the PAI.