Are trigger warnings helpful?

robeiae
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On a down bound train

Posts: 6,692

Are trigger warnings helpful? Jul 13, 2019 13:36:10 GMT -5

Post by robeiae on Jul 13, 2019 13:36:10 GMT -5

This thread was suggested--really, I'm basically pilfering the idea--from another member's (Opty) retweet of this:

Here's the article at Slate: slate.com/technology/2019/07/trigger-warnings-research-shows-they-dont-work-might-hurt.html

From it:

“Trigger warnings just don’t help,” Payton Jones, a clinical psychology doctoral student at Harvard, tweeted alongside a preprint of his new paper. He further explained that the paper actually suggests that trigger warnings might even be harmful.

When I saw the tweet, my gut reaction was that Jones was wrong. I have been for trigger warnings even before the Year of the Trigger Warning, which according to Slate, was 2013. Opponents of trigger warnings tend to argue that they are an unnecessary concession that only serves to further coddle already sheltered college students. I figure they might be a good way to help people with mental injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder stay safer as they move around the world, the same way that a person with a broken leg uses crutches. But after considering Jones’ paper, and chatting with him, I’ve been convinced that we’d do better to save the minimal effort it takes to affix trigger warnings to college reading assignments or put up signs outside of theater productions and apply it to more effective efforts to care for one another.

Here's the paper: osf.io/axn6z/

The writer at Slate's gut reaction had been that trigger warning were a good thing. My gut reaction has always been that they were an ill-considered thing, that their principle function was to provide an easy means of criticizing someone for failing to give a trigger warning. Because I think that there are so many potential "triggers" out there that one can't possible anticipate ever potential one. I also think a lot of people who claim that they were "triggered" by this or that are mostly full of shit.

Anyway, opinions on this new evidence?

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Optimus
Illuminati

Posts: 2,508

Are trigger warnings helpful? Jul 13, 2019 17:20:42 GMT -5 celawson likes this

Post by Optimus on Jul 13, 2019 17:20:42 GMT -5

Ha, I'm just glad someone out there reads stuff that I post.

The evidence against TWs has been building for a couple of years and Payton's work, in particular, seems to be leading the way. He was co-author on a study last year that looked at TWs in a general population sample (excluding people who reported past trauma) and found basically no effect, much less any benefit.

I like this most recent study because they used only participants who had recovered or were recovering from trauma, so it cuts to the heart of TW proponents' main claim; i.e., that they are aimed at helping "victims of trauma" cope by not triggering an adverse psychological/emotional response. I've never found that argument convincing because people who would be that easily triggered would likely not be in a psychological state healthy enough to allow them to function in a high-pressure academic environment in the first place. That is, someone that sensitive to triggers would already need to be in treatment and likely wouldn't be in a mental space that would allow them to attend school or endure much contact with the public.

So, this study was good because it was an even more relevant nail in the coffin of the entire purported basis for TWs. They don't help, at all, and instead are potentially harmful to the people they're meant to protect.

Payton's work is solid and from what I know of him, he's a good dude too, so I'm glad that he's not only out there doing this important work, but that he's finally getting good recognition for it.

Last Edit: Jul 13, 2019 17:26:05 GMT -5 by Optimus

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Optimus
Illuminati

Posts: 2,508

Are trigger warnings helpful? Jul 13, 2019 17:26:30 GMT -5 robeiae likes this

Post by Optimus on Jul 13, 2019 17:26:30 GMT -5

On a related note...

TW rant coming in 3...2...1...

I also don't recall TWs coming from actual mental health researchers and clinicians. Instead, my perception has always been that TWs started off as some weird "demand" from activist students who were probably well-meaning, but were completely ignorant of the facts and basically, in their quest to defend some perceived vulnerable group, revealed that they had no idea WTF they were talking about.

In other words, I don't recall there ever being any evidence to base this entire silly movement on. It was just demanded by well-meaning but clueless activists, acquiesced to by well-meaning but naive (and probably exasperated) profs, and then just assumed as fact, even though there was no proof. I could be wrong, though, and maybe they originally did come from someone who had the relevant background and credibility, who just happened to be incorrect. But, I've only ever heard about them from naive activist students.

I recall watching a panel debate from NYU where Jonathan Haidt (research psychologist) was discussing TWs with an undergraduate pre-law student (why the hell she was on the panel, I still can't figure out). The student was adamant that TWs were necessary and she was strongly advocating for them by making factual claims about their effects that weren't actually based on any facts.

Haidt countered by informing her that avoiding triggers is actually the opposite response that people who've experienced trauma are advised to do, and that therapy for treating and curing these types of trauma-related disorders is actually exposure therapy, not avoidance. Unsurprisingly, the student activist with zero background in mental health education or research kept telling him he was wrong. Ugh, the obstinancy of people like her gives me a migraine.

And that's the thing about activists who have been so strongly pushing for TWs; they don't actually have any relevant knowledge of the topic upon which to even base their claims. They are akin to anti-vaxxers and climate change deniers, in this respect, because though they may try to phrase things to sound "informed" and cherry-pick evidence for their arguments, ultimately they're just talking out of their asses and making shit up.

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robeiae Thaumaturge On a down bound train Posts: 6,692	Are trigger warnings helpful? Jul 15, 2019 12:08:09 GMT -5 Optimus likes this Post by robeiae on Jul 15, 2019 12:08:09 GMT -5 Jul 13, 2019 17:20:42 GMT -5 Optimus said: Ha, I'm just glad someone out there reads stuff that I post. Don't let it go to your head, but you post actual thought provoking stuff. Your reply to Eiko Fried sent me down an hours-long rabbit hole.
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Post by robeiae on Jul 13, 2019 13:36:10 GMT -5

Post by Optimus on Jul 13, 2019 17:20:42 GMT -5

Post by Optimus on Jul 13, 2019 17:26:30 GMT -5

Post by robeiae on Jul 15, 2019 12:08:09 GMT -5