PDS™

Paulhus Deception Scales

Delroy L. Paulhus, Ph.D.

Effectively identify individuals 16+, who distort their responses during assessments.


PDS™

Overview

Overview

The Paulhus Deception Scales (PDS) is a self-report instrument that identifies individuals who, when responding to assessments and rating scales, distort their responses. Designed to be administered concurrently with other instruments, the PDS has been used to successfully identify individuals who might have distorted their responses when completing other clinical and/or personality diagnostic instruments.

Key Features:
  • Assesses socially desirable responding both as a response set and a response style
  • Contains 40 items that use contemporary, gender-neutral language
  • Backed by extensive empirical confirmation of reliability and validity, and is appropriate for both clinical and nonclinical samples
  • May also be used in educational and human resource settings and can provide an index for comparing the power of different administration conditions to elicit desirable responding
  • Useful in instrument development and evaluation
  • Online scoring provides instantly generated reports with statistical, textual, and graphical interpretations of a respondent’s results

Key Areas Measured


Key Areas Measured

Self-Deception Enhancement:The tendency to give honest but inflated self-descriptions

Impression Management: The tendency to give inflated self-descriptions because of contextual factors

These two subscales allow the PDS to capture both principal forms of socially desirable responding. This approach accepts that respondents may display only one kind of desirable responding, or neither, or both.


Quick Reference

Age

Age

16 and Older

Administration Type

Administration Type

Self

Administration Time

Administration Time

5 to 7 Minutes

Number of Items

Number of Items

40

Qualification Level

Qualification Level

B

Format(s)

Format(s)

Online
Handscored

Reading Level

Reading Level

5th Grade

Complementary Tools

Complementary Tools

LS/CMI
PCL-R 2nd Ed
SHQ-R

Quick Reference

Age

Age

16 and Older

Administration Type

Administration Type

Self

Administration Time

Administration Time

5 to 7 Minutes

Number of Items

Number of Items

40

Qualification Level

Qualification Level

B

Format(s)

Format(s)

Online
Handscored

Reading Level

Reading Level

5th Grade

Complementary Tools

Complementary Tools

LS/CMI
PCL-R 2nd Ed
SHQ-R

Reliability and Validity

Reliability and Validity

Normative Data

Normative Data

Scientific Validation

Construct validity issues including evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of each subscale, are explored in the PDS Manual. Nine supportive studies are summarized demonstrating that the SDE scores are positively associated with objective indicators of distortion (i.e., overconfidence, hindsight bias, over-claiming, and self-inflation). The SDE scores also exhibit positive correlation with self-report and peer-rated measures of adjustment, whereas IM scores show minimal correlation. Scores on the IM scale, however, are more sensitive than SDE scores to situational demands for self-presentation.

The normative sample for the PDS consisted of 1,457 individuals - 441 from the general North American population, 289 college students, 603 prison entrants, and 124 military recruits.

Pricing

Select Language of Tool:

Online

Online

Assess easily online from anywhere. Includes automatic scoring and report generation.

Software

Software

Requires software. Includes automatic scoring and report generation.

Handscored

Handscored

QuikScore forms are scored by hand without reports.

Starter Kits
Certification

Starter Kits

Simulations

Simulations

Kits

Forms

French PDS Forms

Handscored
USD: $110.00

Ortiz PVAT Licenses

Ortiz PVAT Licenses

Online Scoring

Online Scoring

Supplementary Materials

Supplementary Materials

Other Materials

Other Materials