"What If Trigger Warnings Don't Work?"

"New psychological research suggests that trigger warnings do not reduce negative reactions to disturbing material—and may even increase them."

From Harvard law professor Jeannie Suk Gersen, in the New Yorker:

Because trigger warnings involve assumptions about emotional reactions, particularly with respect to P.T.S.D., psychology researchers have begun to study whether trigger warnings are in fact beneficial. The results of around a dozen psychological studies, published between 2018 and 2021, are remarkably consistent, and they differ from conventional wisdom: they find that trigger warnings do not seem to lessen negative reactions to disturbing material in students, trauma survivors, or those diagnosed with P.T.S.D.

Indeed, some studies suggest that the opposite may be true. The first one, conducted at Harvard by Benjamin Bellet, a Ph.D. candidate, Payton Jones, who completed his Ph.D. in 2021, and Richard McNally, a psychology professor and the author of "Remembering Trauma," found that, among people who said they believe that words can cause harm, those who received trigger warnings reported greater anxiety in response to disturbing literary passages than those who did not. (The study found that, among those who do not strongly believe words can cause harm, trigger warnings did not significantly increase anxiety.)

Most of the flurry of studies that followed found that trigger warnings had no meaningful effect, but two of them found that individuals who received trigger warnings experienced more distress than those who did not. Yet another study suggested that trigger warnings may prolong the distress of negative memories. A large study by Jones, Bellet, and McNally found that trigger warnings reinforced the belief on the part of trauma survivors that trauma was central (rather than incidental or peripheral) to their identity. The reason that effect may be concerning is that trauma researchers have previously established that a belief that trauma is central to one's identity predicts more severe P.T.S.D.; Bellet called this "one of the most well documented relationships in traumatology."

The perverse consequence of trigger warnings, then, may be to harm the people they are intended to protect.

Comments

[JonFrum]

Left out: assumed is that the general public is full of people suffering from 'trauma.' In fact, real trauma is rare, and naturally fades with time. We don't all commit suicide because a beloved family member dies. We suffer, we get over the immediate pain, and we go on to live happy lives. The trauma narrative that has been created is that every woman who's been sexually assaulted SHOULD be suffering from everlasting 'trauma,' and needs to be protected. But a man who's been beaten nearly to death, or suffered horribly painful injuries just somehow gets over it - quickly.
The truth is that when you break a bone, it hurts terribly. A year later, you can remember the incident, but you cannot remember the pain. And a public mention of leg-breaking does not cause you to break out in a cold sweat.
In fact, the BEST thing to do after a 'trauma' is to get past it as soon as possible - get back on the horse. Celebrating it with constant reminders of your own fragility is self-defeating in the extreme.

[DaivdBehar]

The treatment for trauma happens to be exposure with response prevention. The response prevented is running away. Trigger warnings are caused by the fear of litigation. The scumbag lawyer profession is 100% responsible for all woke. It has to be destroyed to save our nation. Trigger warning to lawyers. Your hierarchy, 25000 subhuman traitor filth, will be arrested. There will be an hour's trial. The sole evidence will be their legal utterances. Then, on reading of the verdict, they get shot in the court basement.

All our social pathologies are gone, overnight.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Surely one purpose of trigger warnings was as a CYA against lawsuits for emotional distress. Somehow Gersen, a lawyer, misses that point.

[Eugene Volokh]

captcrisis: I had never heard that as an argument for trigger warnings, nor have I heard of any such lawsuit filed against a university based on material brought up in lectures. Perhaps I missed something, but that's my sense of the matter.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Maybe years of defending institutions have jaundiced my view.
But haven't trigger warnings, at least some of the time, been at the direction of administrators? Wouldn't that be their motivation? Administrators are so CYA that they guard against things that have never happened, but i>might happen.

Haven't students complained about emotional distress, even if they didn't sue?

I'm also thinking back to the climate of the 1990's, when people like McKinnon argued that women are "raped" by descriptions of rape.

[Tempe Jeff]

So, Fight Club causes watchers to feel beaten? Rocky Balboa hardest hit!

[Don Nico]

McKinnon's point of view was basically as you described it. While few speak those words now, the general atmosphere has drifted toward McKinnon's position.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Look up Carlin Romano's review of Catherine McKinnon's Only Words in the November 14, 1993 issue of The Nation. Crudely hit, but a home run.

[Brett Bellmore]

I thought the purpose was to identify sources of WrongThink, during the period before they can be purged.

[Kazinski]

Ridiculous. How can discussing topics in class that are germane to the subject be a tort? Even if the subject veers off topic, short of actual sexual harassment or discriminatory behavior, how can that be a tort?

[TwelveInchPianist]

Why wouldn't trigger warnings work? Is there any evidence that they don't make the person issuing the warning seem virtuous?

Of course, everybody knows that the don't help the person getting the warning, but that was never the goal.

[Tempe Jeff]

Tis' a virtue-signal nothing more.
Like masking in your own vehicle with the windows up. Which actually increases the chance of contagion, since the outer surface of the mask has contaminants on it.
Healthy dose of irony, to start the day!

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Wearing a mask in one's vehicle with windows up seems poor judgment.

Belligerently rejecting masks and vaccines during a pandemic is the work of a substandard jerk who will next improve our society by departing it (and being replaced by a better person) .

[TwelveInchPianist]

Wow. The virtue just oozes from every orifice in Kirkland's body.

[Scooter]

"Shut Up" the Reverend Explained.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Wrong. You guys get to whine all you wish.

So long as you continue to toe the line established by better Americans.

(Billy Bremner on lead guitar)

[dwb68]

Now we will have trigger warnings about trigger warnings. That will surely work.

"Warning what follows is a warning about material you may find disturbing"

[Longtobefree]

Replace 'trigger warnings' (a totally made up thing) with the following standard caveat:
"Listen up assholes, I don't think like you do, if you even think at all, so you are about to hear hard truths that will show the deliberate bias of your political masters.".

[apedad]

Because everyone who doesn't think like you is an asshole.

Sheesh...

[Soronel Haetir]

Well, the material for Sturgeon's Law has to come from somewhere.

[Currentsitguy]

I think of a quote by George C Scott in the movie Patton:
"When I want it to stick, I give it to them loud and dirty."

[dwb68]

maybe everyone is an asshole, but some of them dont think like me?

[Brophy]

Not everyone who thinks like me is an asshole but everyone who needs a trigger warning is an asshole.

[Don Nico]

Brophy,
Parents may appreciate trigger warnings broadcast before television shows begin. Some of them seem to an old guy like myself as nonsense, but many seem to convey useful advice so that parents can make their own choices for their kids.

[Kazinski]

TV is one thing, its ok to turn off things you may not want to see or your kids to see. A University is different, if they are teaching it, it could be on the exam.

[jimc5499]

I got the only "trigger warning" I ever needed in the Navy. "Shit happens. Deal with it." Never had a problem since.

[Tempe Jeff]

Pithy and effective. A two-fer.

[CommentMonkey]

The outcome of these studies makes intuitive sense. When a child goes in for a shot, the nurse doesn't say "be ready, this is going to be terribly painful" but instead says nothing at all or says "you'll hardly feel anything." The point is to avoid exacerbating anxiety the patient/listener may already be feeling.

[ducksalad]

Maybe I have a bad dentist.

He often says stuff like "due to your blood pressure I'm going to give you a substitute pain killer. It's not quite as effective."

Or "We'll only do one root each visit. I don't think you could take two in one session."

[Rossami]

I wouldn't say you have a "bad" dentist. He may be great at doing the actual repairs. But based on your description, his bedside (chairside?) manner leaves something to be desired.

[Brett Bellmore]

When I broke my leg, and the dislocated ankle needed to be twisted around to the right position by firmly grasping the broken bones, the doctor didn't say "You'll hardly feel anything."

He said, "I've closed the door, feel free to scream."

Of course, he assumed he was dealing with an adult, not a child. Why are we treating grown adults like they were little children?

[Cal Cetín]

I hope he at least got the correct leg.

[Davy C]

Telling a child they'll feel nothing might "work" at the time, but you'll regret it the next time they need to get a shot - or go to the doctor at all even if they don't need a shot.

[ducksalad]

We're all agreed that trigger warnings are kind of silly. However, I do have to point out that the study misses the point in multiple ways. Take this in the spirit of devil's advocate:

1. It's assuming the theory is that the warned reader can gird their loins or find secure seating or whatever. And the study shows that theory failed. But part of the way it's "supposed" to work is that the warned one will decide not to read the tagged article at all.
2. As some of you are already pointing out, the trigger warning is also for the benefit of the author/producer rather than the reader/viewer. And yeah, many times it is virtue signaling. But I think in the majority of cases it's actually people who *aren't* pathologically empathetic defending themselves against those who are. It's the literary equivalent of the long list of super unlikely side effects recited in pharmaceutical ads.

[Kevin Smith]

3. The exact opposite of 1. The author knows the reader will read the article anyway despite the trigger warning, and will likely overreact due to the trigger warning telling them to react that way. This is the intended outcome.

[Lee Moore]

Just so. The purpose of the warning is to affirm that the relentlessly non-terrifying news that bacon tastes good, conceals a world of horrifying cruelty to pigs that you need to be VERY upset about. It's a shout of :

"Yo ! The Overton window is waaaay over there ! I'm now going to talk about something so far out of the Overton window that it'll make your toenails curl and your hair stand on end ! If you have cookies, prepare to chuck them now ! "

Even though bacon does taste good, and pigs are none too pretty about their own feeding habits either.

[Cal Cetín]

"Caution: This article contains explicit references to depraved sex acts. If you wish to stop reading...oh, come on, you know you'll read it now."

[Tempe Jeff]

Warning! Graphic content coming up next, which may not be suitable for young viewers/listeners. How many change the channel or, shoo the young'uns out of the room?

[apedad]

The warning gives the parents the option (which I agree they prolly don't take), but also heads off any complaints about, "My 5-year old saw a nekkid butt so you should have warned us. . . ."

[Lee Moore]

They'll never see a nekkid butt as terrifying as their own Dad's anyway. Five year olds are scary tough.

[Cal Cetín]

5 year olds aren't in college, though I don't see why they aren't what with the qualifications being lowered.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Is this the Volokh Conspiracy's belated acknowledgement that he was wrong to ban Artie Ray Lee Wayne Jim-Bob Kirkland after Artie Ray triggered Eugene Volokh (by making fun of conservatives a bit too deftly)?

It's never too late to acknowledge a hypocritical mistake, Professor.

[Rossami]

As I said in another thread, this study is on a par with the ones suggesting that water is wet and that hot stoves can cause burns.

This was obvious to anyone with more than two functioning brain cells. So naturally, we had to let a bevy of academics spend our money "proving" it. Yay, higher education. (insert golf clap here)

[rxc]

Trigger warnings, as well as the rest of the woke insanity, are intended to provide jobs to people who are otherwise unemployable, because they don't know any math (not even arithmetic), or the ability to put together a logical argument or other story. They can't explain anything or follow direction, and don't have any physical abilities, either, except for the ability to move their lips and tongue. The only skill they have learned is complaining, about anything and everything, and convincing someone, somewhere to feel sorry for them.

[jb]

I thought the point of the trigger warning was that if you were likely to be triggered, you could opt out of "consuming" the upcoming content, not that they would make the content more palatable.

It doesn't seem like the study looked at this? Obviously it doesn't really work in some contexts like required reading in an academic course, but in other discretionary contexts it seems weird to just assume people are going to plow ahead after being told that something unpleasant might happen to them.

(FWIW, I am not particularly triggered by any sort of content, so speaking as a theoretical matter rather than one I have experience with.)

[floridalegal]

My concern is the personal relativity and virtually indiscriminate of characterizing a "trauma ". There's a significant difference between detainees in a POW camp during WWII in the Philippines and the use of the wrong pronoun de jur or a Professor using a Star Trek scenario and being berated for microaggression for assuming someone knew about Star Trek.

By watering down to nothing what may be a trauma, the benefits of trigger warnings lose their effectiveness. There are some university speech codes that require a warning before referring to a/ the words " trigger warning ".

I don't think we had warnings for trigger warnings, demands for exemptions from exams, pillow rooms and puppies when there was an awareness of the adage "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me ". Improper pronouns is now allowed to be characterized as "violence " and entitlement to respond with all forms of violence.

Adulthood is a vanishing quaint notion lost in time.

[Cal Cetín]

Star Trek?

TOS or one of the sillier spinoffs?

What about some of the movies.

You better believe there's some triggering stuff in there.

[floridalegal]

The specific example. Professor uses a reference to Star Trek with a student of Asian descent. Student was unaware of Star Trek. Other students in class loudly proclaim aggregious microaggression against Asian people and protest/ file a complaint with the administration. It's difficult to see the Professor's actions as violence or worthy of the reaction by other students.

[Gasman]

Is it widely known and accepted that asian people are unfamiliar with cultural references? Might say more about the asian kid's friend's assumptions about asians, than it does about actual asians attending college in the States.
Or more likely it might be a simple age related problem, as people the age of professors are more likely to have passing acquaintance with decades old entertainment media than a college kid.

[Cal Cetín]

"The perverse consequence of trigger warnings, then, may be to harm the people they are intended to protect."

This article shows no evidence that trigger warnings harm the would-be commissars who wish to browbeat conservatives, moderates, and insufficiently-woke liberals into submission.

Oh, you're referring to the cover story that it's supposed to help trauma victims?

[tkamenick]

File under "D" for "Duh". Telling people something is supposed to bother them is more likely to make them bothered. I wonder what percentage of people read the trigger warning and then decided to avoid the material?