Can you tell if someone is insane? Maybe, maybe not. On the other hand, can you tell if someone is sane. Are these questions the same?
Let’s be more specific. Can you identify a insane person while walking around your neighborhood? On the other hand, could you identify a sane person in a psychiatric facility? According to an article by David L. Rosenhan, the answer to the latter is no.
Rosenhan’s allowed for 8 sane people to gain secret admission to 12 different hospitals. These people included a graduate student, psychologists, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a painter, and a housewife.
Further details of this experiment can be found below.
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