What did the Rosenhan 1973 study investigate?

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Aim. In the years leading to 1973, professor of law and psychology at Stanford University, Mr. David L. Rosenhan, sought to investigate whether psychiatrists actually managed to tease normal and abnormal psychological states apart.

What happened in David Rosenhan’s 1973 study?

In January 1973, Science published a nine-page paper written by Stanford law and psychology professor David Rosenhan that created a media sensation and sent shock waves throughout the mental health professions. “If sanity and insanity exist,” Rosenhan opened the paper, “how shall we know them?”

What is Rosenhan’s central question in On Being Sane in Insane Places?

250-258. If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know them? The question is neither capricious nor itself insane. However much we may be personally convinced that we can tell the normal from the abnormal, the evidence is simply not compelling.

What happened in the Rosenhan experiment?

Still, Rosenhan’s conclusions were stark: People feigning mental illness all gained admission to psychiatric units and, after they stopped faking symptoms, remained there for lengthy periods. He famously wrote, “It is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals.”

Why was Rosenhan’s experiment significant?

The Rosenhan experiment or Thud experiment was an experiment conducted to determine the validity of psychiatric diagnosis. The participants feigned hallucinations to enter psychiatric hospitals but acted normally afterwards. They were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and were given antipsychotic medication.

What was the major conclusion drawn by Rosenhan 1973 on the research involving the hospitalization of pseudo patients?

In reality, Rosenhan had sent no pseudopatients; all patients suspected as impostors by the hospital staff were ordinary patients. This led to a conclusion that “any diagnostic process that lends itself too readily to massive errors of this sort cannot be a very reliable one.”

What did the Rosenhan study of 1973 suggest quizlet?

Classic Study: Rosenhan (1973) – On Being Sane in Insane Places & His Secondary Study. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between people who are sane and those who are insane.