Rosenhan Article

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A - What was the theme or point of the Rosenhan article

The main point of the Rosenhan article is to show us a very important thing. The way we perceive things are the way we judge things. If a person is known to be very smart, does something odd, we understand that it only looks odd because we don't understand what he's doing. Not because what he's doing is really odd. In contrast to the 'crazy' man who does the same thing, will be immediately viewed as foolishness without looking for his underling reason for doing it. If people would be looked at as people, as apposed to their actions, this wouldn't be a problem.

B ¬- Describe the methodology of the study

Rosenhan took eight different type if people for his experiment. There were three psychologists, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a painter and a housewife. Three of them were woman, five of them men. All were in perfect mental health. In all of the cases, their presence was not known to the faculty of the hospitals. In order to generalize the findings into a variety they were all placed in different hospitals. "The 12 hospitals in the sample were located in five different states on the East and West coasts. Some were old and shabby some were quiet new. Some were research-oriented, others not. Some had good staff-patient ratios, others were quiet understaffed. Only one was a strictly private hospital. All of the others were supported by state and federal funds or, in one instance, by university funds." They all came "complaining that he had been hearing voices". After they were admitted "the pseudo patient ceased simulating any symptoms of abnormality". They all acted like they would regularly. Over all, they stayed at the hospitals for a total of 129 days. While they were at the hospitals they acted as they would usually do. While they were there, they would write down every thing they would see/be done to them. They tried to show that they are completely sane, but were not believed.

C-What are some pieces of evidence that support his hypothesis

 We see that the pseudopatients were able to fool the doctors into thinking that they are indeed mentally ill

 We see that even after the pseudopatients tried showed that they are sane, they were ignored

 We see that they were not given proper attention when they asked for something

D-What Suggestions Might Rosenhan Make to Hospitals

Rosenhan

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