rosenhan Flashcards
what was the name of Rosenhan’s study?
being sane in insane places
state the 2 aims of the study
*identify if 8 sane people who gained admission to 12 different hospitals would be found out as sane
*identify the experience of being in an institution was like and what it feels like to be viewed as insane
describe the sample of study 1
*8 pseudopatients
*male and female
*occupations: painter, pediatrician, psychiatrist, 3 psychologists, housewife , psychology graduate student
*psych backgrounds alleged alternate occupations to avoid special treatment from staff
describe the hospitals in the sample of study 1
*12
*5 different states on east and west coast
*some old, some new
*some research orientated
*some understaffed
*1 private
describe the procedure in study 1
*claimed to hear an unfamiliar, same sex voice saying ‘empty, hollow, thud’
*life histories / previous experiences remained true
*ceased all symptoms upon admission and told staff they were ‘fine’
*brief period of anxiety upon admission
*made notes about staff/patients, started privately but then left in public places eg day room
*all but 1 desired to be discharged immediately
*7-52 days with 19 days avrg
what 3 characteristics did nursing reports indicate that pseudopatients had?
*friendly
*co operative
*exhibited no abnormal indications
what diagnosis were they discharged with?
schizophrenia in remission
who suspected the sanity of the pseudopatients?
*other patients
*‘you’re not crazy, you’re a journalist or professor checking up on the hospital’
describe the findings
*nurse reports
*patients detected sanity
*type 1 false positive which errs on side of caution, identifying a healthy person as insane
*35/118 real patients voted suspicions
*nurses spent 11.3% of time outside cage
*experienced depersonalisation = physical abuse in front of them, no privacy, physical exam in public room, no eye contact, over reliance on medication
how much of the medication was swallowed by pseudopatients?
2/2100
state the aim of study 2
see if tendency toward diagnosing the sane could be reversed
describe the sample of study 2
research teaching hospital who had heard of findings of study 1 and doubted an error would occur for them
describe the procedure of study 2
*staff informed that during following 3 months, 1 or more pseudopatients would attempt to be admitted
*staff rated each patient on 10 point scale with 1 being high confidence that they were a pseudopatient
*judgements obtained on 193 patients
describe the results of study 2
*41 alleged with high confidence
*23 considered by 1 psychiatrist
*19 suspected by 1 psychiatrist and 1 other staff member
*no genuine pseudopatient was presented
*tendency to designate sane people as insane can be reversed when stakes are high
*diagnostic process is unreliable
what did Asch say about central personality colouring formation of impressions? how does this link to the study?
*powerful traits colour meaning of other information to form an impression of a given personality
*once a person is designated abnormal, other behaviours are tainted by this label
*pseudopatients normal behaviour is overlooked entirely due to the diagnosis
what did nurses perceive note taking behaviour as?
*pathological behaviour
*continuous writing must be a manifestation of pathological disturbance
what did staff regard sitting out
side the cafeteria 30 mins prior to lunch time as?
characteristic of oral acquisitive nature of the syndrome
how many times did nurses emerge from the cage during a shift?
11.5x
aim of study 3
to investigate patient/staff contact
study 3 procedure
in 4 of the hospitals pseudo patients approached a member of staff and asked ‘pardon me mr/mrs/dr could tell me if i would be eligible for ground privileges?’ and comapred to wen a student at uni asked for help
study 3 results
71% of psychiatrists moved on, 0% of staff on campus did
4 psychiatrists stopped and talked, 0.5 of nurses and 100 of uni campus faculty
study 3 conclusion
treated differently and patients are powerless and lack of eye contact from staff depersonalises patients
evaluate the study in terms of generalisability
strength
- range of ppt sample and 12 hospitals with different characteristics and locations
- representative of psychiatric hospitals in different parts of america
- representative of diff types of people / occupations
weakness
- ethnocentric
- not representative of diagnosis and psychiatric hospitals in different cultures/countries
evaluate the study in terms of reliability
strength
- standardised procedures of symptoms and behaviour upon admission
- can be replicated
strength
- study 2 quant data
- rated on a scale
- can easily be replicated
strength
- 11/12 diagnoses consistent which makes DSM reliable but not valid
weakness
- lack standardised procedures
- graduate requested psych hw, romantic relationship
evaluate the study in terms of application
strength
- impact on mental health care
- reviewing admission procedures
- training staff on patient interaction
- the study is a compulsory part of training in psychiatric care
- DSM II –> DSM III
- prevents false admission & misdiagnoses
evaluate the study in terms of validity
strength
- high ecological
- staff unaware so natural behaviour
- reflects staff treatment of normal patients in psychiatric hospitals
weakness
- low internal
- faking mental illness
- doesn’t represent how genuine mental conditions are diagnosed
weakness
- low internal
- 9th pseudopatient had positive experience but wasn’t included in report
- publication bias
evaluate the study in terms of ethics
weakness
- ethical issues
- pseudopatients were not reminded of right to withdraw
- hospital staff deceived
- other patients and staff could not consent
weakness
- admitting sane patients takes time away from other patients
- however, only 11.3% of time was spent outside cage for nurses?
weakness
- false labels
- could lead to SFP
- medicated and depersonalised
- however, fake name used so label won’t affect real life
