Rosenhan Flashcards
What method was Rosenhan?
Field experiment (2 and a half)
IV: made up symptoms DV: psychiatrists admission and diagnostic label of patient. With partipcant observation.
What was the procedure of experiment 1?
8 sane people attempting to get into 12 hospitals in 5 states. 3f 5m
They called to an appointment and claimed of hearing voices, the same sex and saying empty hollow and thud, these were chosen as no mention of existential psychosis in literature.
They gave false name and job but all were true info. After being admitted (all but 1). They then acted normally . When speaking to staff they said normal and no symptoms.
They wrote notes about observations, in 4 hospitals the patients carried out observation of staff asking when they will be discharged (carried out control at Stanford uni)
What was the procedure and method of experiment 2?
They were falsely informed In the next 3 months 1 or more pseudo patients would be admitted, staff asked to rate 10 point scale likelihood of fake patient.
IV: false info
DV: number of patients expected to be pseudo.
What are the results of experiment 1?
All admitted but 1
All admitted under schizophrenia and discharged as ..’in remission’
Remained in hospitals rom 7-52 days
Other patients suspected their sanity (35 to 118) ‘you’re a journalist’
Taking notes was seen as writing behaviour.
Waiting for lunch was seen as oral-acquisitive syndrome.
Powerlessness and depersonalisation: anyone’s medical records open, no doors on toilet, brutal to patients in full view of others.
Total of 2,100 tablets given only 2 swallowed.
Nurses in office 90% of time and psychiatrist time was under 7 minutes a day.
Results of experiment 2 are?
Many patients were judged to be pseudo.
Number judged 193
Pseudo patient judged: 41
Suspected by psychiatrist: 23
Suspected by both: 19
What are the conclusions of Rosenhan’s?
Doctors more inclined to make type 2 errors, diagnosing a healthy person as sick as less dangerous.
Labels are sticky and change the way other people see you, instead of labelling a person as insane we should focus on individuals specific problems and behaviour
What was the aim of Rosenhan’s study?
To test the hypothesis that psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between those who are insane and those who aren’t.
