Methods
What three words did they say they heard?
Empty, hollow, thud
What was the average length of stay for the pseudopatients in the mental hospitals?
The average stay was 19 days, but some pseudopatients were hospitalised for as long as 52 days despite showing no signs of mental illness after admission.
Rosenhan's study is significant in psychology because....
It changed the DSM
It showed how unreliable diagnosis can be
It gave the anti-psychiatry movement hard data to support their arguments
What was Rosenhan trying to prove about the power of labels in mental health?
He aimed to demonstrate how a psychiatric label could significantly influence how someone's behaviour is perceived and interpreted, even when that behaviour is normal.
What is another word for validity in psychological research?
Accuracy
How many pseudopatients and how many hospitals were in the study?
8 pseudopatients went to 12 hospitals
What diagnosis did they all receive?
Trick question - only 11/12 got schizophrenia in remission
What are two reasons Rosenhan's study is still significant?
It's still being debated (e.g. Cahalan's book)
People still write about it in magazines and articles
The methodology is being questioned
It's still taught in numerous textbooks
It's cited hundreds of times a year
Did Rosenhan believe that mental illness wasn't real? How does this relate to his aim
No, the study wasn't intended to suggest that mental illness doesn't exist. Instead, it focused on the potential for errors and biases in the diagnosis of mental illness.
What is another word for reliability in psychological research?
Consistency
What instructions did Rosenhan give the pseduopatients?
Say you heard the voices and then afterwards just act normal.
They did give fake names and occupations.
Even when acting normal, how did the staff often interpret the pseudopatients' behaviour?
Their normal actions were frequently seen through the lens of their initial (false) diagnosis. For example, note-taking was sometimes described as "writing behaviour" and seen as a symptom of their illness.
True or False: Rosenhan's study caused hospitals to start shutting down.
False. The number of hospitals was already on the decline - he just helped the cause .
What did Rosenhan hope his study would make people think about regarding psychiatric hospitals?
He wanted to raise questions about the environment and practices within mental institutions and whether they truly facilitated recovery or reinforced illness.
Why might Rosenhan's study be low on temporal validity?
Because it was conducted over 50 years ago.
How did the pseudopatients gather information for the study once they were admitted?
They secretly took notes about their experiences, the staff's interactions with them, and the overall environment of the psychiatric wards.
On average, how many times did the nurses come out of the cage during a shift?
11 times
Rosenhan contributed to deinstitutionalisation - reducing the number of people in insane asylums. Where do you think a lot of seriously mentally ill people end up today instead?
Jail.
What was the aim of the second experiment?
To investigate the opposite of the first. While the first experiment aimed to see if sane people could be falsely identified as insane, the second aimed to see if hospital staff could accurately identify insane people from a group where they were told some would be "pseudopatients"
Why was deceiving the hospital staff a major ethical concern in Rosenhan's study?
Deception violates the principle of informed consent and can undermine trust between researchers and the institutions or individuals they study. The staff couldn't agree to participate if they didn't know they were part of a study.
How did the pseudopatients try to get released from the hospital once they were admitted?
They acted completely normal and told the staff they felt fine and no longer heard voices. They followed instructions and participated in ward activities to show they were healthy.
On average, how long did Drs spend with patients?
7 mins a day
True or False. In 1973 (same year as Rosenhan's study was published), psychiatric hospitals in NZ stopped adding extra beds to their hospitals.
True.
Coincidence you think? Hmmm....
How did Rosenhan's study connect to the idea of a "self-fulfilling prophecy" in the context of mental illness?
He suggested that once someone is labeled "mentally ill," their behavior might be interpreted through that lens, and the hospital environment could even reinforce those perceived symptoms, creating a cycle.
Did the pseudopatients experience any negative consequences from their participation in the study?
Yes, many of them reported feeling dehumanized and powerless within the hospital environment, and the length of their stay was often longer than they anticipated, causing personal disruption and anxiety.