Saavedra and Silverman (button phobia)

Welcome to the Study of Saavedra and Silverman!

In this chapter, we are diving into the Learning Approach to psychology. We are going to look at a very famous case study about a young boy who had a severe phobia of buttons. You will learn how he developed this fear and, more importantly, how psychologists helped him overcome it using different types of "learning" techniques. This study is fascinating because it shows that our emotions (like disgust) are just as important as our actions when it comes to phobias.

Prerequisite: What is the Learning Approach?

Before we start, remember the two "golden rules" of the Learning Approach:
1. We are born as a "blank slate" (tabula rasa). Everything we do is learned from our environment.
2. Psychology should only study observable behavior (things we can see) and how we respond to stimuli.

Quick Review: Think of a "stimulus" as something that happens to you (like seeing a button) and a "response" as what you do (like running away in fear). This is called the stimulus-response model.

The Psychology Being Investigated

Most people think phobias are just about fear. If you are afraid of dogs, you are afraid they might bite you. This is called expectancy learning (you expect something bad to happen).

However, Saavedra and Silverman wanted to look at Evaluative Learning. This is where you don't necessarily think the object will hurt you, but you find it disgusting or "gross." The person evaluates the object negatively even if there is no actual danger.

Analogy: Imagine someone offers you a plate of cockroaches. You aren't afraid they will jump up and bite your nose off, but you might feel "fear" because they are disgusting. That "yuck" factor is Evaluative Learning.

The Background: The Boy and the Buttons

The participant was a 9-year-old Hispanic-American boy. His phobia started when he was 5 years old in kindergarten. During an art project, he ran out of buttons and went to the front of the classroom to get more. He slipped, and a large bowl of buttons fell on him in front of the whole class.

Key Takeaway: This was a traumatic event that caused him to associate buttons with embarrassment and fear. He had suffered from this phobia for four years before seeking help.

The Aim of the Study

The researchers had two main goals:
1. To investigate the cause of a button phobia in a child.
2. To treat the phobia by targeting both disgust and fear using different "Learning Approach" methods.

The Methodology

This was a case study.
What is a case study? It’s a research method where psychologists study one single person (or a small group) in great detail.

Data was collected using:
• Interviews: Talking to the boy and his mother.
• Observations: Watching how he reacted to buttons.
• Feelings Thermometer: A 9-point scale (0–8) used to measure his distress. 0 meant no distress at all, and 8 meant the most distress possible.

The Procedure (The Treatment)

The researchers used two different types of therapy. Don't worry if these sound complicated; we will break them down!

Step 1: Contingency Management (Operant Conditioning)

This was a behavioral therapy. The boy was given positive reinforcement (praise) for showing "brave" behavior, like touching buttons.

The Result: It worked for his behavior (he could touch the buttons), but his feelings didn't change. In fact, his distress scores on the Feelings Thermometer actually went up! He could touch them, but he hated it even more than before.

Step 2: Imagery Exposure (Targeting Evaluative Learning)

This was a cognitive therapy. Since the boy found buttons "gross," the researchers had him imagine buttons falling on him and imagine how they smelled and felt. They focused on why he felt disgust.

The Result: This was the "magic" part. His distress dropped significantly. For example, imagining "clear plastic buttons" falling on him started at a score of 8 (highest distress) and dropped to a 3 by the end of the session.

Quick Review Box:
• Operant Conditioning therapy: Good for changing actions, but not feelings.
• Imagery Exposure: Successfully changed the feeling of disgust.

The Results

The treatment was a huge success!
• By the end of the imagery therapy, the boy could handle buttons easily.
• Long-term follow-up: The researchers checked on him 6 months and 12 months later. He no longer met the criteria for a phobia and could even wear buttons on his school uniform!

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• High Validity: Because it was a case study, the researchers spent a lot of time with the boy and got very detailed data. They really understood his specific problem.
• Standardized Measures: Using the Feelings Thermometer gave them quantitative data (numbers), which allowed them to see exactly how much his fear was decreasing.

Weaknesses

• Generalizability: Since this was only one boy with a very specific phobia, we can't be sure if this treatment would work for everyone or for different phobias (like a fear of spiders).
• Subjectivity: The boy had to rate his own fear. He might have given lower scores just to please the researchers (this is called demand characteristics).

Ethics

In this study, informed consent was obtained from both the boy and his mother. This is very important when working with children. However, the boy was intentionally exposed to things he feared, which caused psychological distress. The researchers had to balance this stress against the long-term benefit of curing his phobia.

Key Takeaways for Revision

• Evaluative Learning: Learning to feel "disgust" toward a stimulus.
• Phobias: Can be caused by a single traumatic event.
• Case Study: One person studied in depth.
• Therapy: Targeting the feeling (disgust) was more effective than just rewarding the behavior (touching buttons).

Common Mistake to Avoid: Don't forget that this study used both Operant Conditioning and treatment for Evaluative Learning. Many students forget the second part, but the second part is what actually "cured" the disgust!

Did you know? The boy found small, clear plastic buttons the most disgusting. He gave them a rating of 8 on the Feelings Thermometer. Large denim buttons were much easier for him, rated at only a 2!