Understanding the Relevance and Impact of Trigger Warnings — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

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Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Understanding the Relevance and Impact of Trigger Warnings

Name: Jacob Hurlburt
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Lombard
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Independent research

Abstract

Research indicates warning labels arouse reactance in viewers of all ages (Bushman, 2006). Recently, Trigger Warnings (TWs) emerged as a new, controversial form of warning label with some arguing they contribute to “the coddling of the American mind” (Lukianoff & Haidt, 2015), while others claim they may facilitate discussion of difficult topics (Cares, Hirschel, & Williams, 2014). Despite these assertions, currently no research tests veracity of these ideas. However, research on other forms of content advisories suggest that the forbidden fruit hypothesis may apply (Bushman & Cantor, 2003). The current research examines the effects of TWs and content notes. Specifically, we explore undergraduates’ perceptions of the purpose of TWs. Secondly, we test whether prefacing an emotionally arousing article with a TW, content note, or no label effects participants’ self-reported interest in and engagement with the reading. Perceptions and reactions to the articles were assessed. Results and implications for classroom use of TWs are discussed.

Poster file