Rosenhan

Question 1

what was Rosenhan’s study called (1973)

Answer 1

On being sane in insane places

Question 2

what was the purpose of Rosenhan’s study?

Answer 2

to test the hypothesis that psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between those who are sane and those who are insane

Question 3

Study 1: Aims

Answer 3

to see if 8 sane people who gained admission to 12 different hospitals would be found out as sane.

Question 4

Study 1: hospitals involved

Answer 4

12 different hospitals in 5 different states in the USA

all hospitals varied in character (old/ new, well-staffed/ poorly staffed, private or not)

settings varied so that findings could be generalised

Question 5

Study 1: facts about the pseudopatients

Answer 5

8 - 5 men and 3 women
. a psychology graduate in his 20s
- a painter
- 3 psychologists

all used fake names

one wanted to be discharged immediately - hospitalisation was extremely stressful (ethics)

Question 6

Study 1: what voices did the pseudopatients claim to hear

Answer 6

voices unfamilliar but the same sex as themselves

said words ‘empty’ ‘hollow’ and ‘thud’

these words chosen because they are similar to existential symptoms

Question 7

study 1: what did the pseudopatients do once they were admitted to hospital?

Answer 7

stopped displaying any symptoms

each pseudo-patient was told they would have to get out by convincing staff they were sane

Question 8

study 1: range and average length of hospitalisation

Answer 8

7-52 days
average - 19 days

Question 9

study 1: what did the nursers report about the pseudopatients

Answer 9

pseudopatients never detected
evidence that patients were stuck with the label ‘schizophrenic’ once given it

Question 10

study 1: did the psychiatric patients detect the pseudo patients

Answer 10

that the pseudo patients did not have schizophrenia

Question 11

study 1: what diagnosis were all but one of the pseudo patients given?

Answer 11

schizophrenia in remission

Question 12

study 1: how long did the hospital staff spend outside ‘the cage’?

Answer 12

11%

came out of the cage an average of 11.5 times per shift

Question 13

study 1: how many pills were given during the admission of the pseudo patients?

Answer 13

2, 100 pills - not swallowed

Question 14

study 1: what did rosenhan note about the hospitals

Answer 14

they were not to blame for their failure to recognise sanity

Question 15

type 1 error

Answer 15

diagnosing a sick person as healthy

Question 16

type 2 error

Answer 16

diagnosing a healthy person as sick

Question 17

study 1: evaluate - participant covert unstructured observation

Answer 17

covert - increased validity - no demand characteristics

unstructured - rich qualitative data (e.g. nurse undressed in front of patients, depersonalisation) -

participant - could experience the ward from a patient perspective

Question 18

study 1: evaluate the field experiement

Answer 18

has ecological validity whilst still manage to control variables (such as the pseudo patients behaviour)

Question 18

study 1: evaluate deception of hospital staff

Answer 18

unethical as no consent or right to withdraw

however, confidentiality was protected - no hospitals or staff named

Question 19

study 1: pseudo’s right to withdraw

Answer 19

rosenhan prepared lawyers to intervene to get the pseudo’s out of the hospital if they requested it

Question 20

study 1: standardised procedure

Answer 20

pseudo’s trained to behave in the same way - reliable

however, not all pseudo’s stuck to the standardised procedure
- one struck up a romantic relationship with a nurse
- graduate asked his wife to bring in college homework - which revealed he was a psychologist

Question 21

study 1: validity - Seymour Ketty (1974)

Answer 21

pseudo’s were faking a mental condition - doesn’t tell us how people with genuine mental conditions are diagnosed

lacks ecological validity as it is not expected that someone would carry out deception in order to b admitted to a psychiatric hospital

Question 22

Study 1: application to society

Answer 22

psychiatric hospitals reviewed their admission procedures and how they trained their staff to interact with patients

impacted the reformed versions of the DSM (DSM II was in use during this study)

Question 23

what error are doctors and psychiatrists more likely to make

Answer 23

a type 2 error rather than a type 1 error

Question 24

Study 2: aim

Answer 24

to see if the tendency toward diagnosing the sane could be reversed

Question 25

study 2: procedure

Answer 25

rosenhan told the hospitals that sometime in the next 3 months more pseudo’s would attempt to be admitted

each staff member asked to rate patients presenting themselves on a scale of 1-10 to reflect the likelihood of them being a Pseudo

Question 26

study 2: findings

Answer 26

judgements given on the 193 patients admitted for psychiatric treatment
- 19 thought to be pseudo by one psychiatrist and one other staff member
- 41 judged with high confidence by at least one staff member to be pseudo

Question 27

conclusions of the studies

Answer 27

normal behaviour interpreted in a pathological way by staff - extensive note taking didn’t cause questions by hospital staff - 3 patients had their writing diagnosed as an aspect of their pathological behaviour - ‘ patient engages in writing behaviour’

staff unable to distinguish between the sane and insane

once labelled insane then all of their behaviour is understood through this label

Question 28

what did rosenhan think staff should do to understand patients

Answer 28

read history and similar materials to help them understand how patients experience these hospitals

Question 29

what did the pseudo patients observe from the hospital staff

Answer 29

the staff avoided and depersonalised the patients

no privacy

Question 30

what is the patients deprived of once they are admitted to the psychiatric hospital

Answer 30

power and legal rights