Classic: Rosenhan Flashcards
AO1: Aim
Study 1- to investigate if sane people who present themselves to a psychiatric hospital would be diagnosed as being insane
AO1: Procedure
5 men 3 women
12 hospitals-included a range of psychiatric institutions (across 5 states with both modern, old, well-staffed, poor staffed + one private)
Pseudo patients call psychiatric hospital claiming to be hearing a deep miffed male voice saying “thud” “hollow” “empty”
All ppts gave honest life stories
As soon as they had been admitted they said the voice stoped
Natural ppt covert observation
AO1: Results
100% Pseudo patients were admitted
All sz+ 1 manic depression
In hospital between 7-52 days with a mean stay of 19 days
Released as sz in remission
Normal behaviours seen as symptoms
Waiting for lunch: oral acquisitive syndrome
Writing in diaries: pathological writing behaviour
2100 pills (only 2 taken)
Real patients spent less than 7 mins per day with psychiatric staff
35/118 patients voiced suspicions
+AO3- Generalisabilty
Various style of hospitals over 5 states
+AO3- Standardised
procedure i.e. the words used which makes it more reliable
+AO3- Ecological validity
because in staff’s natural environment
+AO3- Low Demand Characteristics
staff didn’t know they were being observed
+AO3- IRR
All trained by Rosenhan
+AO3- data
Quant and Qual
-AO3- Validity issues
they lied, can’t blame the doctors for getting it wrong (essentially they showed demand characteristics)
-AO3- Ethnocentric
USA only- so not applicable to other cultures
-AO3- Generalisabilty
Only 12 hospitals
-AO3- Bias
on behalf of the pseudopatients observations after being held so long?
-AO3- Ethical problems:
- Deception
- Informed consent
- Withdrawal
- Debrief
- Harm to pseudo-patients
- Harm to real patients (time lost) & study 2
- Identities protected
