rosenhan

Question 1

what was the name of Rosenhan’s study?

Answer 1

being sane in insane places

Question 2

state the 2 aims of the study

Answer 2

*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

Question 3

describe the sample of study 1

Answer 3

*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

Question 4

describe the hospitals in the sample of study 1

Answer 4

*12
*5 different states on east and west coast
*some old, some new
*some research orientated
*some understaffed
*1 private

Question 5

describe the procedure in study 1

Answer 5

*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

Question 6

what 3 characteristics did nursing reports indicate that pseudopatients had?

Answer 6

*friendly
*co operative
*exhibited no abnormal indications

Question 7

what diagnosis were they discharged with?

Answer 7

schizophrenia in remission

Question 8

who suspected the sanity of the pseudopatients?

Answer 8

*other patients
*‘you’re not crazy, you’re a journalist or professor checking up on the hospital’

Question 9

describe the findings

Answer 9

*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

Question 10

how much of the medication was swallowed by pseudopatients?

Answer 10

2/2100

Question 11

state the aim of study 2

Answer 11

see if tendency toward diagnosing the sane could be reversed

Question 12

describe the sample of study 2

Answer 12

research teaching hospital who had heard of findings of study 1 and doubted an error would occur for them

Question 13

describe the procedure of study 2

Answer 13

*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

Question 14

describe the results of study 2

Answer 14

*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

Question 15

what did Asch say about central personality colouring formation of impressions? how does this link to the study?

Answer 15

*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

Question 16

what did nurses perceive note taking behaviour as?

Answer 16

*pathological behaviour
*continuous writing must be a manifestation of pathological disturbance

Question 17

what did staff regard sitting out
side the cafeteria 30 mins prior to lunch time as?

Answer 17

characteristic of oral acquisitive nature of the syndrome

Question 18

how many times did nurses emerge from the cage during a shift?

Answer 18

11.5x

Question 19

evaluate the study in terms of generalisability

Answer 19

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

Question 20

evaluate the study in terms of reliability

Answer 20

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

Question 21

evaluate the study in terms of application

Answer 21

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

Question 22

evaluate the study in terms of validity

Answer 22

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

Question 23

evaluate the study in terms of ethics

Answer 23

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