Book Reading #13 - Opening Skinner's Box

Title:
Chapter 3: On Being Sane in Insane Places

Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.

Summary:
This chapter discussed David Rosenhan's experiment in which he and eight others pretended to be hearing a voice saying "thud".  They told this to psychiatrists at mental institutions to see if they would be admitted.  Everything else about their lives they would tell the truth about.  Surprisingly, all nine were admitted anywhere from seven to fifty-two days.  Upon admittance, they were to renounce their hearing of the voice and act completely normal.

Laurne Slater duplicated this experiment around eight times herself.  She was never admitted, but was prescribed drugs.

Discussion:
This chapter seemed to be focusing on our response to our labels.  I was actually able to give a lecture on that very subject last night to friends in my small group.  I like to think about the way the way others perceive us affect our actions and form the people who we are.