In the early 1970s...
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In the early 1970s, a psychology professor at Stanford University named David L. Rosenhan gathered a painter, a graduate student, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a housewife, and three psychologists, and told them to check into different psychiatric hospitals under aliases, with the complaint that they had been hearing voices. Apart from their initial story, they were to tell the truth at all times and tell the staff at every opportunity that the voices were gone. They were hospitalized, on average, for 19 days, one for almost two months. No hospital ever saw through the ruse. Rosenhan then went to a research and teaching hospital and informed the staff that in the next three months he would send over another of his pseudo patients. The hospital identified 41 of the 193 patients admitted during the three-month period as being sane. Once again, they were wrong. Rosenhan had not sent anyone over. He proved that people act according to certain criteria, whether or not it is true.
The only certain way one can know how to act righteously is to follow the Word of Christ. It alone is true and shows us the way to holy living -- to love, to kindness, to forgiveness, and to harmony with one another. It alone is reliable as it guides us in a life of thanksgiving to God the Father through Jesus Christ.
