Rosenhan
- Being sane in insane places
Background
To test the validity of diagnosis
People diagnose patients using tools
Psychiatrists criticise the medical model
Aims
- To see if people would be classed as insane
- To see if insane people would be classed as sane
Method
- Observation
- Pseudo patients of diff occupations. Rosenhan was one of them (not sample, they
were confederates).
Sample
- Patients + staff at 12 hospitals located in 5 states - 1960s
- The sample wasn’t the pseudo patients
Procedure
Each rang hospital for app + told them they were hearing voices saying empty hollow bcs
they showed existential crisis but not linked to schizo.
False name + job to protect future
Study 1
Procedure
- Followed normal routine apart from not taking medication’
- Observed + took notes on p much everything. Done secretly until they realised no
one cared
Data collection
Observation
- Diary entries
- A request - approach staff and ask smth like ‘when am I likely to be discharged?’
Result
- All let go w diagnosis of schizo in remission
- Stayed for average of 19 days
, - Effect of labelling. Normal behaviours interpreted as symptoms like obsessive
writing disorder + queuing for lunch
- Patients lack privacy. Toilets didn’t have doors. Depersonalisation
Explanations
Failure can’t be due to
- Quality of hospitals
- Observation time
- Behaviour
Study 2
Ps are staff at hospital. Told results of study
Procedure
Told that they were gonna send fake patients to the hospital. Each of them asked to rate all
patients on a scale from 1-10. 1 being they thought they were pseudopatients. None were
sent though
IV - false info
DV - no. of patients suspected
Results
Over 3 months, 193 admitted
- 41 suspected by at least 1 staff
- 23 suspected by at least 1 psychiatrist
- 19 suspected by both
Conclusions
False positive diagnosis - saying something does exist when it doesn’t. Like saying
someone is sick when they’re not
False negative diagnosis - saying something doesn’t exist when it does. Saying someone is
healthy when they’re sick
Mini exp 0
4 hospitals to see if staff behaved diff towards patients in hospital compared to people in
Stanford uni
Procedure
- Being sane in insane places
Background
To test the validity of diagnosis
People diagnose patients using tools
Psychiatrists criticise the medical model
Aims
- To see if people would be classed as insane
- To see if insane people would be classed as sane
Method
- Observation
- Pseudo patients of diff occupations. Rosenhan was one of them (not sample, they
were confederates).
Sample
- Patients + staff at 12 hospitals located in 5 states - 1960s
- The sample wasn’t the pseudo patients
Procedure
Each rang hospital for app + told them they were hearing voices saying empty hollow bcs
they showed existential crisis but not linked to schizo.
False name + job to protect future
Study 1
Procedure
- Followed normal routine apart from not taking medication’
- Observed + took notes on p much everything. Done secretly until they realised no
one cared
Data collection
Observation
- Diary entries
- A request - approach staff and ask smth like ‘when am I likely to be discharged?’
Result
- All let go w diagnosis of schizo in remission
- Stayed for average of 19 days
, - Effect of labelling. Normal behaviours interpreted as symptoms like obsessive
writing disorder + queuing for lunch
- Patients lack privacy. Toilets didn’t have doors. Depersonalisation
Explanations
Failure can’t be due to
- Quality of hospitals
- Observation time
- Behaviour
Study 2
Ps are staff at hospital. Told results of study
Procedure
Told that they were gonna send fake patients to the hospital. Each of them asked to rate all
patients on a scale from 1-10. 1 being they thought they were pseudopatients. None were
sent though
IV - false info
DV - no. of patients suspected
Results
Over 3 months, 193 admitted
- 41 suspected by at least 1 staff
- 23 suspected by at least 1 psychiatrist
- 19 suspected by both
Conclusions
False positive diagnosis - saying something does exist when it doesn’t. Like saying
someone is sick when they’re not
False negative diagnosis - saying something doesn’t exist when it does. Saying someone is
healthy when they’re sick
Mini exp 0
4 hospitals to see if staff behaved diff towards patients in hospital compared to people in
Stanford uni
Procedure
