Saavedra and silverman (button phobia)

AIM

• to investigate the cause of a boy’s button phobia to see if disgust is involved

• to treat the button phobia of a body by targeting fear and disgust

• to test the effectiveness of exposure(based) treatment of a button phobic

• to examine the role of evaluative learning/classic conditioning in phobias

Psychology being investigated

• investigated evaluative learning/classical conditioning

• a person comes to perceive (evaluate) a previously neutral object or an event negatively

• the person negatively evaluates the the object/event without anticipating threat/danger

• this negative evaluation elicits a feeling of disgust rather than fear

• differs from classical conditioning as the person is being cognitively active by thinking about disgust and consequences rather than being a passive organism.

Research method and design

• case study

• DSM-IV was used to diagnose him with button phobia

• result of treatment were measured using a 9-point scale known as the feeling thermometers.

Sample

• a 9 years old

• Hispanic american boy

• presented by his mom to child anxiety and phobic program

• he did not meet the criteria for OCD

• he did meet the criteria (DSM-IV) for phobia

• he had experienced a bowl of buttons falling on him at school

Explain why this study is from the learning app

• part of the therapy was based on operant conditioning. he was rewarded for being able to handle buttons on the feeling thermometer. (operant condition → conditioned neutral stimuli. rewarded for handling buttons)

• operant condition: learn by enforcement or punishment

• he had an experience of the bowl of buttons falling on to him. he never had this phobia before then so the phobia is learned.

Learning approach assumptions:

• we learn through conditioning; for operant we can get awarded for certain actions, then we are likely to repeat that action ( 1mark for knowledge & 1 mark for example)

• social learning helps to explain changes in behaviour. we observe and imitate behaviours of others and imitate that actions ( 1mark for knowledge & 1 mark for example)

state the age at which the boy;s button phobia began:

5 years old

Describe the feeling thermometer

• a hierarchy of fear/disgust

• nine point scale: 0-8

• 0 = no stress

• 8 - very stresse d

• used to rate his level of disgust/fear/distress/anxiety

During diagnosis, the boy did not meet the DSM-IV criteria for one disorder:

OCD/Obsessive compulsive disorder

explain how one finding from the study supports one of the assumptions of the learning approach:

• the rating of distress declined over session time,

• and during these the mother gave positives reinforcement to help shape his behaviour by the end of the study

Strengths

• quantitative data

• application to real world

• reliability

• self reports

Weaknesses

• social desirability

• generalisability

• self reports

Treatment procdure

1. Behavioural exposure (4 sessions): grounded in expectancy learning and systematic desensitization.

• gradual exposure: exposure tasks based on the individualised hierarchy of distress.

• positive reinforcement: with his mother, intention was to associate positive experiences with the previously distressiing stimuli → promoting a positive emotional response.

2. Imaginery exposure: (7 sessions): the boy imagined various scenarios involving buttons → descirbe what he felt, saw, and smelled, and cognitive restructuring techniques were used to challenge and change his negative evaluations.

• cognitive restructuring: explore the reasons why he found buttons disusting and assisting him in reframing those negative cognitions

• follow up assessments: assess at 6 and 12 months after the treatment using feeling thermometer and interviews.