2019
DOI: 10.1037/xap0000215
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Expecting the worst: Investigating the effects of trigger warnings on reactions to ambiguously themed photos.

Abstract: Trigger warnings are messages alerting people to content containing themes that could cause distressing emotional reactions. Advocates claim that warnings allow people to prepare themselves and subsequently reduce negative reactions toward content, while critics insist warnings may increase negative interpretations. Here, we investigated (a) the emotional impact of viewing a warning message, (b) if a warning message would increase or decrease participants’ negative evaluations of a set of ambiguous photos, and… Show more

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Cited by 34 publications
(45 citation statements)
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“…Recent research on trigger warnings can importantly inform or perhaps even settle some of these debates. Trigger warnings are unhelpful for trauma survivors, college students, trauma-naïve individuals, and mixed groups of participants (Bellet et al, 2018;Bellet et al, 2019, Bridgland et al, 2019Sanson et al, 2019). Given this consistent conclusion, we find no evidence-based reason for educators, administrators, or clinicians to use trigger warnings.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 68%
“…Recent research on trigger warnings can importantly inform or perhaps even settle some of these debates. Trigger warnings are unhelpful for trauma survivors, college students, trauma-naïve individuals, and mixed groups of participants (Bellet et al, 2018;Bellet et al, 2019, Bridgland et al, 2019Sanson et al, 2019). Given this consistent conclusion, we find no evidence-based reason for educators, administrators, or clinicians to use trigger warnings.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 68%
“…Recent research on trigger warnings can importantly inform or perhaps even settle some of these debates. The research suggests that trigger warnings are unhelpful for trauma survivors, college students, trauma-naïve individuals, and mixed groups of participants (Bellet et al, 2018, 2020; Bridgland et al, 2019; Sanson et al, 2019). Given this consistent conclusion, we find no evidence-based reason for educators, administrators, or clinicians to use trigger warnings.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Bridgland, Green, Oulton, and Takarangi (2019) similarly found that trigger warnings had trivially small effects on arousal levels when participants viewed photos. However, their results differentiated anticipatory anxiety from response anxiety .…”
mentioning
confidence: 88%
“…There is a limited but growing body of empirical research on trigger warnings. The literature is mixed and generally focuses on emotional regulation, anticipated anxiety, experienced anxiety, and avoidance (for a full review see Bellet, et al, 2018;Bridgland, et al, 2019;Gainsburg & Earl, 2018;Sanson, et al, 2019). Only once did the literature mention that trigger warnings may be stigmatizing towards trauma survivors (Bellet et al, 2018).…”
Section: Experimental Literature On Trigger Warningsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Bellet et al (2018) suggest that trigger warnings may have unintended detrimental consequences for the afflicted individuals they are designed to protect. For example, trigger warnings can lead to anticipatory anxiety (Bridgland et al, 2019;Gainsburg & Earl, 2018), causing students to experience increased negative affect when they otherwise would not (Bellet et al, 2018). Further, Bellet et al found trigger warnings led most participants to believe it is possible for themselves and others to suffer from a long-term debilitating illness, such as PTSD, after encountering a hypothetical traumatic event.…”
Section: Experimental Literature On Trigger Warningsmentioning
confidence: 99%