Critical Response Performance and Innovation

Are Trigger Warnings good, bad or indifferent?

The research on trigger warnings indicates that they may actually prime individuals to perceive they are more prone to and experience greater anxiety from exposure to perceived stress and could actually be doing more harm than good.

There are some similarities between this and the research on Post Traumatic Stress or Growth, depending on how individuals were pre-primed for exposure as either a negative or positive. Combined with the research on stress outcomes and pre-stress expectations, there are some strong indications that the way we prime people could be the most significant influence on their outcomes.

This could be particularly important for any organisation where stressful events are part of the job requirement, to ensure they are priming their workforce for the best possible outcomes.

There is similar research from clinical populations that I will make available shortly.

Original research is available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0005791618301137