Rosenham Flashcards
what was Rosenhan’s aim?
to investigate if sane people who present themselves to a psychiatric hospital would be diagnosed as being insane
what was Rosenhan’s sample?
12 different hospitals across 5 states including a range of modern and old, well-staffed and poorly-staffed and 1 privately owned
how many states were the sample across?
5
who were the pseudo patients?
5 men and 3 women ranged in backgrounds
including a housewife, psychologists a painter etc
what was the procedure?
1-pseudo-patients call psychiatric hospitals complaining of symptoms of an existential crises
2-admitted into hospitals
3-observed patient when admitted
what words did they claim to hear? (3)
- empty
- hollow
- -thud
how did the pseudo-patients describe the voice in their head?
muffled
what did the pseudo-patients claim when they were admitted into the psychiatric hospitals
claimed the voice in their head had stopped and told real-life stories once admitted
what observational method was used by the pseudopatients? (3)
natural, participant covert observation
what results did Rosenhan collect? (3)
- 100% of pseudopatients were diagnosed with mental illness
- normal behaviours were observed as symptoms
- saneness was noticed by patients
how many pills were handed to the pseudopatients?
how many swallowed?
2100 given
-2 swallowed
what was the range of days spent in the hospitals?
7-52 days
what were the pseudopatients diagnosed with?
7=schizophrenic
1=manic depression
how were the pseudopatients released?
released as schizophrenic in remission
how long did real patients spend with psychiatric staff?
less than 7 minutes per day
how many real patients voiced their suspicions about the pseudo patients?
35/118
AO3- GENERALISABILITY (4)
+various style of hospitals
+hospitals across 5 states
-USA only
-small sample-12 hospitals
AO3-RELIABILITY (2)
+standardised procedure-ringing hospitals with the same symptoms- better reliability
+across 5 states all apart from 1 diagnosed with same scz-inter-rater reliability
AO3-APPLICABILITY (2)
+can learn from conditions of the hospital
+DSM updated harder to be diagnosed with scz now
AO3-VALIDITY (4)
+ecological validity- staff and patients in natural setting
+internal validity- low demand characteristics-staff didn’t know they were being observed
-validity issues- lied about symptoms so of course diagnosis will be wrong- showed demand characteristics
-observations-subjective to pseudopatients
AO3-ETHICS
+Rosenhan trained pseudopatients-competent
-deception used-lied about symptoms
-withdrawal-pseudopatients couldn’t leave until discharged
-harm to pseudopatients
+odentities protected
