Could a sane person be diagnosed as insane and institutionalized as a result? David Rosenhan wanted to find out, so he posed as a mentally ill patient, fooled hospital staff, and revealed the dangers implied by a system that could not tell the difference between healthy and sick individuals.
Rosenhan, professor emeritus of law and psychology at Stanford whose seminal "On Being Sane in Insane Places" (1973) became a widely read study in psychology, died February 6 at Stanford Hospital. He was 82.
Rosenhan, who joined the Stanford faculty in 1971, was a pioneer in the application of psychological methods to the practice of trial law process, including jury selection and jury consultation. He wrote more than 80 books and research papers. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a former president of the American Psychological Association.
Born in Jersey City, N.J., David L. Rosenhan was a yeshiva student in his youth and received a bachelor's in mathematics from Yeshiva College, and a master's in economics and PhD in psychology from Columbia University.
As part of his research study for "On Being Sane in Insane Places," Rosenhan and seven others had themselves admitted as patients to a total of 12 mental hospitals during a three-year period. They described hearing voices 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. They never did, although many of the real patients caught on to the fakes.
"David was a spellbinding lecturer, and this famous study was as much an exercise in pedagogy as research," recalls former psychology department colleague Lee Ross. "The lessons he cared most about offering, in his research and in the classroom, were most importantly ones about human dignity and the need to confront abuse of power and human frailties."
Before joining the Stanford faculty, Rosenhan was a member of the faculties of Swarthmore College, Princeton University, Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania.
He is survived by his son Jack Rosenhan of Palo Alto, his brother, Hershel, and two granddaughters.
Judith Romero is public information officer at the Law School.
