Name: Melisa Hilaire
Date: 01/25/2021
Abnormal Psychology
Answer the following:
1) What was Rosenhan research question?
Rosenhan research question was “If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know
them?”
2) Who were the pseudopatients? How did they get admitted to the hospital?
The Pseudopatients were eight patients (3 women and 5 men) which included a
graduate student in his 20’s, three psychologists, a psychiatrist, pediatrician, a
painter and a housewife. They got admitted by calling for an appointment and
said they heard voices.
3) What diagnosis was given to the psuedopatients? Why were they given this diagnosis?
The diagnosis given to the psuedopatients were schizophrenia "in remission.”
They were given this diagnosis because feigned hallucinations. The patients said
they heard voices saying “empty, hollow and thud”.
4) What were the other patients' reactions to the pseudopatients?
The other patients were spooked and thought that the psedopatients were
undercover journalist and academics checking up on the hospital.
5) What did the patients do extensively? (Typically considered normal but in this case
considered part of his/her diagnosis)
The patients were considered abnormal because they were taking notes while
observing the other patients of the facility. The notes were taken in secret, but
they soon realized that this was considered a symptom to their illness.
6) Describe some of the interactions between patients and staff.
The interactions between the patients and staff were normal. The staff even stated
that the patients were friendly and cooperative. This conclusion was formed
because when asked by staff how he was feeling, he indicated that he was fine, that he
no longer experienced symptoms.
7) How was powerlessness experienced in the hospital? How did depersonalization and
invisibility occur with regard to medication?
Powerlessness was experienced in the hospital when the patients were illtreated
and when restrictions were placed upon them. His freedom of movement is
restricted. He cannot initiate contact with the staff, but may only respond to such
overtures as they make. Personal privacy is minimal. Patient quarters and
possessions can be entered and examined by any staff member, for whatever
Name: Melisa Hilaire
Date: 01/25/2021
Abnormal Psychology
reason. His personal history and anguish is available to any staff member (often
including the “grey lady” and “candy striper” volunteer) who chooses to read his
folder, regardless of their therapeutic relationship to him. His personal hygiene
and waste evacuation are often monitored. The water closets have no doors. An
example of that was where one patient was beaten in the presence of other
patients for having approached an attendant and told him, “I like you”.
Depersonalization and invisibility occurred with regard to the medication when
All told, the pseudopatients were administered nearly 2100 pills, including Elavil,
Stelazine, Compazine, and Thorazine, to name but a few. (That such a variety of
medications should have been administered to patients presenting identical
symptoms is itself worthy of note.) Only two were swallowed. The rest were
either pocketed or deposited in the toilet. The pseudopatients were not alone in
this. Although I have no precise records on how many patients rejected their
medications, the pseudopatients frequently found the medications of other patients
in the toilet before they deposited their own. As long as they were cooperative,
their behavior and the pseudopatients’ own in this matter, as in other important
matters, went unnoticed throughout.
8) Describe the outcome of the study.
The study concluded “it is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the
insane in psychiatric hospitals” and also illustrated the dangers of dehumanization
and labeling in psychiatric institutions. The consequences to patients hospitalized
in such an environment – the powerlessness, depersonalization, segregation,
mortification, and self-labeling was not an environment where patients could ever
become mentally stable again.
9) Why did medical personnel not identify the pseudopatients?
Medical personnel did not identify the psedopatients the physicians operate with a
strong bias toward what statisticians call the Type 2 error. This is to say that
physicians are more inclined to call a healthy person sick (a false positive, Type
2) than a sick person healthy (a false negative, Type 1). The reasons for this are
not hard to find: it is clearly more dangerous to misdiagnose illness than
health. Better to err on the side of caution, to suspect illness even among the
healthy. Also, when a patient is labelled the diagnosis that is given to the patient it
sticks with them. So, the patient behaving normal could look like a symptom of
their diagnosis.
10) According to the article, can we determine the sane from the insane? Explain your
answer.
According to the article, we can not determine the sane from the insane because
everything that a patient who was diagnosed with a mental illness did all their
actions viewed as symptoms of the disease. There is a thin line between abnormal
and normal. In his article about the experiment, he notes "one psychiatrist pointed
to a group of patients who were sitting outside the cafeteria entrance half an hour
Name: Melisa Hilaire
Date: 01/25/2021
Abnormal Psychology
before lunchtime. To a group of young residents, he indicated that such behavior
was characteristic of the oral-acquisitive nature of the syndrome. It seemed not to
occur to him that there were very few things to anticipate in a psychiatric hospital
besides eating." Although some individuals today will state otherwise because of
how our society categorizes insane persons.
