Caution: Content Warnings Do Not Reduce Distress, Study Shows
www.psychologicalscience.org
Advocates for the use of trigger warnings suggest that they can help people avoid or emotionally prepare people for encountering content related to a past trauma. But research indicates the warnings only heighten anticipatory anxiety.

Advocates for the use of trigger warnings suggest that they can help people avoid or emotionally prepare for encountering content related to a past trauma. But trigger warnings may not fulfill either of these functions, according to an analysis published in Clinical Psychological Science.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21677026231186625

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️English
    13•6 months ago

    I thought the point of those warnings was so people who didn’t like it or couldn’t handle it could just choose not to watch the content.

    If seeing people die fucks you up mentally, and a video says “CW: Death” why the fuck would you watch it? Psychology is weird.

    • @SgtAStrawberry
      2•6 months ago

      I’m going to guess it is the same reason as to why someone who is super afraid of jump scares, finds them super uncomfortable and get messed up mentally from seeing them. Click and watch a video titled something like “Super Jumpscare’s house of jump scares now with extra scary jump scares” with the video also containing multiple warnings about that it will contain jump scares, and then they complain and try to guilt trip the person how made the video for not including a jump scare time stamp list of every jump scare and a description of what it was in the description. Because they NEED IT to watch the video, as they can’t handle jump scares.

    • @BluesF
      1•6 months ago

      From the abstract:

      Findings on avoidance were mixed, suggesting either that warnings have no effect on engagement with material or that they increased engagement with negative material under specific circumstances.