Deb Tate

Some mention that the upcoming material might be distressing or anything else.

And we had the same question.

So we wonder whether trigger warnings, depending on how they are worded, might influence maybe more cognitive processes, such as the formation of expectations.

And we found initial evidence for this in a preliminary study involving over 400 participants that the wording might have an influence.

And so last year we conducted an experiment testing, okay, is there a difference between a very vague warning or a very detailed warning?

Yeah, in line with previous research, we found that trigger warnings, whether detailed or vague, did not reduce the level of anxiety participants felt before watching distressing content.

All groups regarding...

All groups reported similar emotional responses, no matter how the wording of the trigger warning was.

But we found one interesting thing.

We used, in our study, we used a very vague warning, which was just saying, yeah, the following content may be distressing, and a very specific warning.

And the specific warning contained information about the material, like, okay, you will see violence, you will see death, and you will experience distress or maybe intrusive memories.

And interestingly, the group

with the wake warning reported lower expectations regarding their ability to cope with intrusive memories after they watched the film.

And for the next three days, they also experienced significantly more intrusive memories compared to those who received the detail warnings.

I agree.

I totally agree.

Because what we also found was that trigger warnings are highly accepted by people.

In our study, most people said, okay, but I felt a sense of respect.

I felt in control.

I had the feeling that I can choose.