Guide to the David L. Rosenhan Papers
Daniel Hartwig & Elspeth Olson
Stanford University. Libraries.
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
August 2012
Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Overview
Call Number: SC1116
Creator:
Rosenhan, David L., 1929-2012.
Title: David L. Rosenhan papers
Dates: circa 1970-1990
Physical Description:
12 Linear feet
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
Administrative Information
Information about Access
The materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted
to a digital use copy.
Ownership & Copyright
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Cite As
[identification of item], David L. Rosenhan Papers (SC1116). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical note
David L. Rosenhan (1929 – February 6, 2012) was a psychologist and pioneer in the application of psychological methods to
the practice of trial law process, including jury selection and jury consultation. Rosenhan was the author of more than 80
books and research papers, including one of the most widely read studies in the field of psychology, “On Being Sane in Insane
Places” (1973). He is best known for the Rosenhan experiment, a study challenging the validity of psychiatry diagnoses.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, David L. Rosenhan was a yeshiva student in his youth and received a BA in mathematics (1951)
from Yeshiva College, and an MA in economics (1953) and PhD in psychology (1958) from Columbia University
Before joining the Stanford faculty, David Rosenhan was a member of the faculties of Swarthmore College, Princeton University,
Haverford College, and University of Pennsylvania. He also served as a research psychologist at Educational Testing Service.
He was a psychologist for the Counseling Center at Stevens Institute of Technology from 1954 to 1956; a lecturer at Hunter
College and director of research in the Department of Psychiatry at City Hospital at Elmhurst from 1958 to 1960; assistant
professor for the Departments of Psychology and Sociology at Haverford College from 1960 to 1962; lecturer for the Department
of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania from 1961 to 1964; lecturer for the Department of Psychology
at Princeton University from 1964 to 1968; and professor in the Department of Psychology and Education at Swarthmore College
from 1968 to 1970.
In 1973 Rosenhan published "On Being Sane in Insane Places", one of the most widely read articles in the field of psychology.
The article details the Rosenhan experiment. The experiment arranged for eight individuals with no history of psychopathology
to attempt admission into twelve psychiatric hospitals during a three-year period. They described hallucinations and “empty”
feelings and were diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenics. As soon as they were admitted they began acting normally and waited
for the hospital staff to notice. The hospital staff never did notice, although many of the real patients caught on to the
fakes. Psychiatrists attempted to treat the individuals using psychiatric medication. All eight were discharged within 7 to
52 days, but only when they had stated that they accepted their diagnosis. In a later part of the study, a research and teaching
hospital challenged Rosenhan to run a similar experiment involving its own diagnosis and admission procedures. Psychiatric
staff were warned that at least one pseudo-patient might be sent to their institution. 83 out of 193 new patients were believed
by at least one staff member to be actors. In fact, Rosenhan sent no actors. The study concluded that existing forms of diagnosis
were grossly inaccurate in distinguishing individuals without mental disorders from those with mental disorders. Rosenhan
wrote, “It is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals. … The consequences to patients
hospitalized in such an environment—the powerlessness, depersonalization, segregation, mortification, and self-labeling—seem
undoubtedly counter-therapeutic.”. The paper created an explosion of controversy. Critics have questioned the validity and
credibility of the study, but concede that the consistency of psychiatric diagnoses needs improvement.
At a time when legal scholars were just beginning to look to economics for insights into legal analysis, Professor Rosenhan
was among the first to draw from the social sciences, especially experimental psychology, to examine assumptions made by legal
scholars in the trial process. Building on research on juror behavior undertaken by the University of Chicago Law School Jury
Project in the 1950s, Professor Rosenhan began to focus on other aspects of juror behavior. Among his interests was the jurors’
ability to abide by the judge’s instructions to disregard evidence the judge had ruled inadmissible.
Along with Martin Seligman, Rosenhan believed that there are seven main features of abnormality: suffering; maladaptiveness;
vividness and unconventionality; unpredictability and loss of control; irrationality and incomprehensibility; observer discomfort;
and violation of moral and ideal standards.
He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a former president of the American Psychological
Association; a former director of the American Psychology-Law Society; a former president of the American Board of Forensic
Psychology; a former vice-president of the Institute for Psychosocial Interaction; a former director at the Mental Research
Institute; member of the Clinical Projects Research Review Committee at the National Institute of Mental Health; visiting
fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College and Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University
from 1977 to 1978; visiting professor at University of Western Australia, Tel Aviv University, and Oxford University from
1984-1985; and a visiting professor in the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University in 1988.
He died on February 6, 2012, at the age of 82. He was survived by his son Jack Rosenhan and his granddaughters Cecily and
Yael, as well as his brother Hershel.
Access Terms
Stanford University. Department of Psychology. Faculty.
Stanford University. Department of Psychology.
Stanford University. School of Law.
Community mental health services.
Law--Study and teaching--United States
Psychology--Study and teaching (Graduate) --California --Stanford.
Psychology.
Box 3, Folder 3
Effectiveness of Individual Psychotherapy
Box 3, Folder 5
Expectancy and desensitization in the treatment of fear
Box 3, Folder 6
Cognitive Control of Anger and Aggression
Box 3, Folder 7
Neurophysiologic Correlates of Autistic Behavior
Box 3, Folder 9
Factors Influencing Tolerance of Deprivation
Box 3, Folder 10
Psychologic, Immunologic and Pharmacological Aspects of Asthma
Box 3, Folder 11
Psychologic, Pharmacologic and Immunologic Interactions in Asthma
Box 3, Folder 12
Behavioral Treatment Approaches to Schizophrenia
Box 3, Folder 13
Function of the Human Potential Movement
Box 3, Folder 14
Progress Report appendix (Kanfer, Frederick)
Box 3, Folder 16
The Nature of Schizophrenic Thought Disorders
Box 3, Folder 17
Aversion and Interpersonal Factors in Smoking Control
Box 3, Folder 18
Social Interaction of Deviant Preschool Children
Box 3, Folder 19
Comparison of Pre-sleep and "Extrasensory" Stimuli in Dreams
Box 3, Folder 20
Bootstrapping the Schizoid Taxon with MMPI Patterns
Box 4, Folder 2
Sleep Disturbance in Depressive Disorders
Box 4, Folder 3
Voluntary Control Over Psycho-physiologic Activities
Box 4, Folder 4
Information Processing and Schizophrenia
Box 4, Folder 5
Treatment of Asthma by Behavioral Desensitization (RG)
Box 4, Folder 6
Clinical Decision Behaviors in Psychiatric Diagnosis
Box 4, Folder 7
Assessing and Modifying Social Behavior in a Hospital
Box 4, Folder 8
Depression: A Clinical Research Approach
Box 4, Folder 9
Psychophysiological Family Research
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Hypertensive Pressures During Psychological Study
Box 4, Folder 11
Hyperactive Behavior in Girls
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Correspondence to Grant Applications Borrowed By Beverly Rose
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Cognitive Response to Psychological Stress
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Sensory Regulation Aspects of Aggressive Behavior
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Modifications of Defenses in Psychoanalysis
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Defective Epinephrine Mobilization in Bronchial Asthma
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Infantile Autism: Methodological Studies of Diagnosis
Box 4, Folder 18
Perceptual and Proprioceptive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia
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Feminine Identity in Adolescent Girls
Box 4, Folder 20
Factors Influencing Tolerance for Deprivation
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Behaviorial Treatment of Childhood Gender Problems
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Therapeutic efficacy in anxiety syndromes
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Behavior modification in childhood asthma
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Further studies on sleep utterance
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Dependency and deprivation of obesity
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Associative disorder and schizophrenic predisposition
Box 5, Folder 8
Therapy methods for the lower class neurotic patient
Box 5, Folder 9
Developmental Factors in Schizophrenia
Box 5, Folder 10
Genetic Analysis of Schizophrenic Families
Box 5, Folder 11
Data Bank to Assess Psychiatric Theory Outcomes
Box 5, Folder 12
A Genetic-Epidemiologic Study of Presenile Dementia
Box 5, Folder 13
Studies of Early Infantile Autism and Controls
Box 5, Folder 14
Treatment of Asthma through Conditioning
Box 5, Folder 15
Assessment of Interpersonal Behavior
Box 5, Folder 16
Videotape Feedback in Psychotherapy
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Cognitive Response to Psychological Stress
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Evaluation of Behavior training as a Therapy Approach
Box 5, Folder 19
Arousal, Retrieval, and Autism
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Affective Disorders in Children
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Learned helplessness and depression
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Learned Helplessness and Depression
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Adolescent Behavioral Classification Project (ABCP)
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Communication of Symptomatic Complaints
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Social Competence and Behavioral Style in Mental Patients
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Social Competence and Behavior in mental patients
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Mother-Child antecedents to schizophrenic development
Box 6, Folder 10
An Outcome and Process Study of Intensive Therapy
Box 6, Folder 11
Pre-Sleep and "Extrasensory" Stimuli in Dreams
1973-1974
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An Optimum A-B Scale of Psychotherapist Effectiveness
Box 6, Folder 13
An Optimum A-B Scale fo Psychotherapist Effectiveness
Box 6, Folder 14
Adjustment of Children of Schizophrenic Parents
Box 6, Folder 15
Body Movement Aspects of Personality and Social Role
Box 6, Folder 16
Dimensions and Validity of Depression Scales
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Self-Change and Coping in Response to Crisis
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Outcome Variables in Group Psychotherapy
Box 4, Folder 1
Psychobehavioral Effects of Sleep Pattern Variation
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Loren Chapman, Related to: MH 24797-01
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Small, Joyce G. MH 14638-04
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Rubins, Jack L. MH 19606-01
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Encoding+Recall; Lawrence, Kavanagh
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Moore, Underwood, Rosenhan
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Seligman-Rosenhan Abnormal Text
Box 7, Folder 10
Abnormal Text Correspondence: Norton Publishers
Box 7, Folder 11
HRW Publications Schedule - Contract List
Box 8, Folder 4
Norristown Hospital Notes
Box 8, Folder 5
Characteristics of Hospitals (folder 1)
Box 8, Folder 6
Characteristics of Hospitals (folder 2)
Box 8, Folder 9
Obedience Sample Typed Protocols
Box 8, Folder 11
Obediance Experiment Data & Frequency Data
Box 8, Folder 12
Obediance Data Graphs and Analysis
Box 8, Folder 13
Obediance, Reliability of Ratings of Interviews - credibility
Box 8, Folder 14
Obediance, Reliability of Ratings of Interviews
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Obediance Interview Ratings - Hipp
Box 8, Folder 17
Obediance Data and Analysis
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Obediance Daily Data Sheet
Box 8, Folder 19
Obediance Analysis of Interviews Glen White
Box 8, Folder 20
Obediance Personality Data
Box 8, Folder 22
Contextual Nature of Psychiatric Diagnosis
Box 8, Folder 24
Madness: In the Eye of the Beholder
Box 8, Folder 25
Some Perceptual Correlates of Anxiety
Box 1, Folder 1
Correspondence 1989-1990
1989-1990
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Ongirski-Lehnhoff, Hannelore
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Clare, Diane (Proseminar, Inc.)
Box 2, Folder 34
Correspondence Prior to 1974 (1 of 7)
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Correspondence Prior to 1974 (2 of 7)
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Correspondence Prior to 1974 (3 of 7)
Box 2, Folder 37
Correspondence Prior to 1974 (4 of 7)
Box 2, Folder 38
Correspondence Prior to 1974 (5 of 7)
Box 2, Folder 39
Correspondence Prior to 1974 (6 of 7)
Box 2, Folder 40
Correspondence Prior to 1974 (7 of 7)
