From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!duke!mcnc!unc!smb Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: Replying about Hinkley Re: utzoo!Laura among others. Article-I.D.: unc.3694 Posted: Wed Jul 14 21:23:27 1982 Received: Fri Jul 16 01:13:30 1982 References: pyuxcc.305 I was about to say that most folks couldn't simulate appropriate forms of insanity well enough to fool shrinks -- one would have to act crazy in a consistent fashion, including consistency with other documented behavior. Then I remembered this story; I'm sorry I don't have a specific reference. As part of an experiment (by some psychologists, I believe, though it may have been my a newspaper), several sane (whatever that is) folks acted crazy enough to get themselves committed to an institution. Immediately thereafter, they dropped the act and behaved normally. It took them *months* to convince the staff that they were rational! Among the amusing sidelights were that the other patients spotted the act almost immediately, and that their normal and rational behavior was diagnosed as "hostility and lack of co-operation" by the doctors.