
A trio of Harvard psychology professors concluded in a new study that trigger warnings may not be such a great idea after all. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
It appears trigger warnings — the close relative of safe spaces and the pride of much of academia — may not be so beneficial after all.
To review, trigger warnings have been used — on college campuses in particular — to inform people ahead of time that what they're about to read or view may cause distress. On campus, they've gone hand in hand with the belief of many students — particularly left-wing activists — that they have a right to not be offended. As a result, controversial viewpoints very often have been squelched.
But a new Harvard study — yes, Harvard — for the "Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry" has concluded that trigger warnings actually "increase peoples' perceived emotional vulnerability to trauma" and "increase anxiety to written material perceived as harmful."
The trio of psychology faculty members behind the study randomly assigned online participants to receive or not receive trigger warnings prior to reading literary passages that varied in potentially disturbing content.
The study found that participants in the trigger warning group believed they — and people in general — were more emotionally vulnerable if they were to experience trauma and reported greater anxiety over reading potentially distressing passages. But the latter was the case "only if they believed that words can cause harm."
In addition, the sample included only non-traumatized participants, the study said, adding that "observed effects may differ for a traumatized population."
The study concluded that trigger warnings may "inadvertently undermine some aspects of emotional resilience," but that more research is needed — particularly within college communities and among those with trauma histories.
Fortunately, not everybody is on board with coddling students and leaving them ill-prepared for life outside of paradise:
Here's what Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz has to say about the issue:
(H/T: Reason)