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Results provided partial support for Shneidman's contention of the importance of psychache for suicidal behavior and that other psychological factors are only important to suicide insofar as they relate through psychache.

Van Hooft and Born (Journal of Applied Psychology 97: [301][302][303][304][305][306][307][308][309][310][311][312][313][314][315][316] 2012) presented data challenging both the correctness of a congruence model of faking on personality test items and the relative merit (i.e., effect size) of response latencies for identifying fakers. We suggest that their analysis of response times was suboptimal, and that it followed neither from a congruence model of faking nor from published protocols on appropriately filtering the noise in personality test item answering times. Using new data and following recommended analytic procedures, we confirmed the relative utility of response times for identifying personality test fakers, and our obtained results, again, reinforce a congruence model of faking.Keywords Response latencies . Faking . Congruence . Response favorabilityCan the response times associated with answering self-report personality items identify individuals who are faking? Over the decades, various perspectives regarding response times and dissimulation have emerged. Some have argued that faking is a complex process that, relative to honest answering, requires extra cognitive processing and editing. In support of this perspective, McDaniel and Timm (1990) found that, when instructed to answer dishonestly, respondents took more time to answer items than when they were instructed to answer honestly, particularly for items pertaining to socially undesirable behaviors (e.g., drug use). Furthermore, in advocating for a response editing approach to answering, Holtgraves (2004) had respondents answer personality items in contexts varying in evaluation demands, and found that instructions inducing socially desirable responding resulted in longer response times than did other instructional sets.A contrary view, whereby faking is associated with faster responding, also has empirical support. For example, Holden, Fekken, and Jackson (1985) reported that shorter latencies were associated with answering items that were more saturated with socially desirable responding. Hsu, Santelli, and Hsu (1989) found shorter item response times for fakers than for respondents answering under standard instructions. Similarly, George (1990) indicated that, as compared to honest responding, faking was associated with shorter response latencies.Given the empirical evidence that faking can seemingly result in either slower or faster responding, a more complex model becomes necessary. Nowakowska's (1970) schematic diagram for responding to questionnaire items proposes multiple pathways that consider both the social desirability of item stimuli and a cognitively demanding intellectual evaluation associated with response disclosure. As such, socially desirable responding (e.g., faking) can be more primitive, easy, and straightforward (i.e., fast), or can be more controlling of the truth and, thus, slower. Holden, Kroner, Fekken, and Popham (1992) have also articulated a more complex model of faking that is derived from schema theory. T...

ObjectivesUnlike many investigations that focus on suicide ideation rather than suicidal behavior, the present research evaluates the merit and relative efficacy of psychache (i.e., unbearable mental pain) for predicting self‐reported suicide attempts among university students who are starting university.MethodA sample of 516 elevated‐risk undergraduates was assessed during the first three weeks of starting university and, again, 10 weeks later.ResultsPsychache and depression, but not hopelessness, could predict change in suicide attempter status. When measures of psychache, depression, and hopelessness were considered simultaneously, only psychache provided significant, unique predictive power.ConclusionsFindings are interpreted as supporting Shneidman's model whereby psychache is seen as the cause of suicide.