Saavedra and Silverman (button phobia) Flashcards
what was the title of this study?
case study, disgust and a specific phobia of buttons
what year was this study conducted?
2002
what was the psychology being investigated in this study?
evaluative learning is a form of classical conditioning in which a person comes to perceive or evaluate a previously neutral object negatively
it does not depend on the individual expecting or being aware of the association between the neutral object and the negative outcome
an individual may negatively evaluate a specific object or event without anticipating the threat of an objective contaminant
this elicits a feeling of disgust rather than fear
what was the background of this study?
phobia: a persistent and unreasonable fear of an object. the fear is disproportionate to the danger posed and leads to avoidance of the object
fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by an organisms defenesive response to an imminent threat
disgust: a feeling of revulsion or disapproval aroused by something unpleasant or offensive
the role of disgust within phobias has received very little attention
disgust could interact with the fear of a phobic stimulus produced, to increase avoidance of that stimulus
disgust has been hypothesised as a concurrent emotion that in interaction with fear may result in increased avoidance behaviour
what were the aims of this study?
to investigate the cause of button phobia in a child
to attempt to treat a childs phobia via targeting both disgust and fear responses
what was the procedure of this study?
research method: case study, observations, and questionnaires
quantitative data: digress ratings and severity ratings
qualitative data: questions about why the boy found buttons
sample: a 9 year old hispanic American boy who was part of the child anxiety an dphobia program at Florida international university. he came with an avoidance of buttons
Sampling technique: opportunity sampling
the boy and the mother gave informed consent to participant in the assessment and interventions procedures. written content was also provided to publish this study
the boy met the DSM-IV criteria for button phobia
the phobia began when the boy was 5 years old in kindergarten, during an art project involving buttons
the boy ran out of buttons so was asked to come to the front of the classed and take them. when he reached the bowl, his hand slipped and the buttons in the bowl fell on him. he described this experience as distressful
duration of the phobia was 4 years
he did not express significant stressors or events that could be related to the phobias onset during this period
how were the behaviour exposures done in this study?
the child was treated with an exposure-based treatment programme that tackled cognitions and behaviour
the treatment involved the use of contingency management. the mother provided positive reinforcement if the boy successfully completed the gradual exposure to buttons
treatment sessions lasted abut 30 minutes with the boy alone and 20 minutes with the boy and his mother
before the first session, the boy devised a disgust and fear hierarchy using distress ratings on a 9 point scaled from 0-8 via a feelings thermometer as shown in table 1.
the most difficult were small, clear, plastic buttons
he had 4 sessions of behavioural exposure to buttons using this
how was the disgust imagery and cognitions done in this study?
after the behavioural exposure, it was planned to have 7 sessions looking into the boys disgust imagery and cognitions with a view of helping him to change these over times
further probing revealed that the boy found buttons disgusting upon contact with his body
he also expressed that button emitted unpleasant odours
these 7 sessions involved exploring withe the boy the vicarious things about buttons that he found disgusting and using specific cognitive strategies
he was prompted to imagine buttons falling on him and to express how they looked, felt, smelled, and to elaborate on how these imagery exposure made him feel
although the boy indicated that buttons were disgusting and gross, even with intense probing it was difficult for him to describe exactly what about buttons rendered them disgusting and gross
what were the results fo this study?
by session 4, the boy had successfully completed all in vivo exposure tasks up to those with the highest distress ratings
even though he could handle more and more buttons, his distress rating increased dramatically from session 2 to 3 to 4
in session 4, the boys subjective ratings that had been 6 or 7 prior to the treatment were now higher
this phenomenon was consistent with the evaluative learning
disgust related imagery exposures and cognitions appeared to be successful in receding the boys subjective ratings of distress
in the imagery session, he had to imagine hundreds of buttons falling on him, before the cognitive restructuring, he rated the experience as 8, this decreased to 5 midway through the session and 3 at the end of the session
in a session where he has to imagine hugging his mother while she was wearing a shirt with many buttons, the distress ratings went from 7 to 4 to 3
he was followed up 6 and 12 months after treatment and no longer met the specific phobia of buttons
what were the conclusions of this study?
disgust plays a key role in the development and maintenance of a phobia but a mixture of behavioural exposure and cognitive restructuring helped to eliminate the feelings of disgust
what were the ethical issues surrounding this study?
the participant was severely distressed snd protection provided
informed consent was taken from the mother and the boy
what were the strengths of this study?
qualitative and quantitative data were both collected in this study
this is a case study and is focused on one person only hence detailed data was collected
this study was conducted in a therapeutic setting hence had ecological validity
what were the weaknesses of this study?
this study lacks mundane realism
this was a case study and only used one participant, so it has a low generalisability
the ratings are subjective and this lowers reliability
what are the issues and debated surrounding this study?
application to everyday life: for treating peoples phobias
nature vs nurture: the process by which the phobia was acquired relates to nurture
