Rosenhan wanted to see if psychiatrists could tell who was sane and who was insane. Imagine going to a hospital and pretending to hear voices just to see if doctors could figure out you were faking it. Crazy, right? Rosenhan and his team did just that!

Pseudo-Patients: Eight mentally healthy people, including Rosenhan, volunteered to act as pretend patients.

Symptoms: They complained of hearing voices that said "empty," "hollow," and "thud." That's all they made up, nothing else!

Hospital Visits: They applied to 12 hospitals in 5 different states.

Acting Normal: Once inside, they acted completely normal and tried to convince the staff they were sane.

Diagnosis: All but one were diagnosed with schizophrenia and later released with "schizophrenia in remission."

Detection: None of the staff caught on, but some real patients suspected the truth.

Misinterpretation: Normal behavior like taking notes was seen as a symptom!

Ignoring Patients: Staff mostly ignored the pseudo-patients; even psychiatrists ignored questions 71% of the time.

🤔 Think about it like this: Imagine going undercover in a superhero lair and not only the heroes but also the other sidekicks believing you're one of them. You'd start to think that maybe their super-detection powers aren't so super after all!

Imagine going undercover in a superhero lair and not only the heroes but also the other sidekicks believing you're one of them. You'd start to think that maybe their super-detection powers aren't so super after all!