David Rosenhan
American psychologist known for the 1973 pseudopatient study
American psychologist and Stanford professor of law and psychology. His 1973 Science paper On Being Sane in Insane Places reported that healthy volunteers were admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Later investigations have questioned the reliability of the study.
Why this person matters
The 1973 paper became a standard example in debates about psychiatric diagnosis and hospital care, and later a case for discussing research ethics and the integrity of published data. The study relied on seven other volunteers. Critics include Robert Spitzer, Susannah Cahalan and Andrew Scull.
Main contributions
The pseudopatient study
Rosenhan and seven others sought admission to 12 psychiatric hospitals, reporting hallucinations such as voices saying words like empty and thud. All were admitted and, after behaving normally, were discharged after 7 to 52 days, an average of 19.
The follow-up with a warned hospital
A research and teaching hospital was told to expect pseudopatients. Staff judged 41 of 193 new patients to be likely impostors, though Rosenhan reports sending none.
Argument about labels
Rosenhan concluded that sane and insane people cannot be reliably distinguished in psychiatric hospitals, and that the hospital environment was counter-therapeutic for patients.
Context and limits
In 1975 Robert Spitzer argued that admitting people who reported hallucinations was reasonable and that the errors came from the pseudopatients' deception. Others have objected to deceiving staff without consent. In 2019 Susannah Cahalan reported that she could identify only two of the eight pseudopatients, that Rosenhan's own account diverged from his hospital records, and that one volunteer's positive stay was left out. She concluded he probably fabricated some data, though a Nature reviewer noted she could not be completely certain. Andrew Scull called the paper scientific fraud in 2023.
In your introductory course
Psychological disorders.Rosenhan appears in chapters on psychological disorders and diagnosis, and in discussions of research ethics. Students should treat the study as contested and not as settled evidence.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 15.1. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1958
He completed a PhD in psychology at Columbia University.
- 1971
He became a professor of law and psychology at Stanford, where he stayed until he retired in 1998.
- 1973
On Being Sane in Insane Places was published in Science.
- 1975
Robert Spitzer published a critique in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, and Rosenhan replied in the same issue.
Sources
- Stanford Law School, Stanford Law School mourns the loss of David L. RosenhanUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- Undark, review of The Great Pretender by Susannah CahalanPublisher. Reference article inspected.
- Simply Psychology, Rosenhan (1973) experimentReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, David RosenhanReference work. Reference article inspected.