The Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ): a new measure for evaluating hostile social-cognitive biases in paranoia.
BACKGROUND
This study reports on the development of a new measure of hostile social-cognitive biases for use in paranoia research, the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ). The AIHQ is comprised of a variety of negative situations that differ in terms of intentionality. Items were developed to reflect causes that were ambiguous, intentional, and accidental in nature.


METHODS
Participants were 322 college students who completed the AIHQ along with measures of paranoia, hostility, attributional style, and psychosis proneness. The reliability and validity of the AIHQ was evaluated using both correlational and multiple regression methods.


RESULTS
The AIHQ had good levels of reliability (internal consistency and interrater reliability). The AIHQ was positively correlated with paranoia and hostility and was not correlated with measures of psychosis proneness, which supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. In addition, the AIHQ predicted incremental variance in paranoia scores as compared to the attributional, hostility, and psychosis proneness measures. Ambiguous items showed the most consistent relationships with paranoia.


CONCLUSIONS
The AIHQ appears to be a reliable and valid measure of hostile social cognitive biases in paranoia. Recommendations for using the AIHQ in the study of paranoia are discussed.
Combs
Dennis R
DR
Department of Psychology, University of Tulsa, OK 74104, USA. dennis-combs@utulsa.edu
Penn
David L
DL
Wicher
Melanie
M
Waldheter
Evan
E
D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000150:complications*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires