A-179 Personality Assessment Inventory Cognitive Bias Scale of Scales (CB-Sos): Replication and Comparison to the CBS in an Active Duty Military Sample

Objective The Cognitive Bias Scale (CBS) was developed for the PAI using item-level responses identified based on failed performance validity testing (PVT), with subsequent studies cross-validating the scale. New research developed three alternative forms of the CBS using scale level responses, called the Cognitive Bias Scale of Scales (CB-sos). This study examines the performance of the three different CB-sos scales based on performance on stand-alone PVTs in a military sample. Methods Retrospective review of 257 active-duty military individuals referred for outpatient neuropsychological assessment. Each subject was administered the PAI, MSVT, and NV-MSVT. Groups were defined as valid (0 PVT failures) or invalid (1 or more PVT failures), consistent with CB-sos validation. Independent t-tests, effect size estimates, and sensitivity/specificity estimates were then calculated. Results Significant t-tests (p < 0.001) and medium effect sizes (0.5 < d < 0.8) were evident across each version of the CBS scale. The largest effect sizes were for the 7-scale CB-sos3 (d = 0.77) and the item-derived CBS (d = 0.70). AUC was similar (AUC = 0.686–0.713) across all scales. Estimates of sensitivity were low (ranging from 0.06 to 0.13) and specificity was high (ranging from 0.94 to 0.98) at the recommend cut values for each scale. Discussion It appears Scale of Scale validity indictors calculated from total scale scores, rather than items (i.e., CBS), produce similar levels of effectiveness. Results support the use of the CB-sos scales as potentially useful indicators of invalid responding on the PAI within a military sample (particularly CB-sos3), though sensitivity is relatively low.